Discriminating but not discriminatory
THAT’S how we can describe the character of Christian faith as it impacts on our business and politics.
It is strictly discriminating in the sense that it wants us to get into the very substance of Christianity in our daily activities and earthly affairs.
It’s not interested only in the externals, the gravy, the patina. It wants the real thing, where our business and politics can truly become an encounter with Christ, an occasion to grow in holiness.
But it is never discriminatory, since it is open to all possibilities our human freedom can bring about. It has the capacity to bear whatever burden these possibilities can impose on us.
It can sustain positions contrary to it. Persecutions against it do not kill it. It will just resurrect in another way. Christ showed this by preferring to die rather than forcing people to follow him.
As St. Paul says it, for those who love God and therefore have faith in him, all things, even the seemingly bad things, will always work out for the good. This is how Christian faith works. It has focus, but it is open to anything. It upholds the truth in freedom, even if that freedom is badly used by the people.
We have to say this because lately in many places the idea seems to be rampant that in our business and politics we should just set aside our Christian faith, since that would only lead us to a limited view of things. It’s would not be open to positions contrary to it.
This was clearly said with regard to the RH issue. Many people, even the educated class and our leading politicians and other people of influence, expressed this view. They accuse the Church and, in effect, the Christian faith of being intolerant to those who don’t agree with her.
Better use reason alone, they said, and forget faith. Reason makes things more practical, convenient and open to all possibilities. Reason is more tolerant. Faith is intolerant.
Not at all! The Christian faith is open to anything, even to things that are in direct contradiction to it. It always respects the freedom of man. While the truth about the RH issue as coming from the Church and therefore of Christ is upheld, care is always taken that such position always respects freedom and is pursued in charity.
There might be some forcefulness involved, but it is the forcefulness of the truth itself, especially as that truth has to contend with contrary views. I suppose, everyone understands that. Any exchange of views always entails persuasive forces.
The Christian faith as spelled out by the Church magisterium is not afraid of being scrutinized by reason. In fact, faith welcomes it, since in our human condition, that faith always makes use of reason.
Faith has nothing to hide. It needs reason for it to be more understood and translated into more human and accessible terms. That’s why faith needs reason.
It is just hoped that reason also recognizes its need for faith. In fact, again in our human condition, faith and reason ought to go together, helping each other in deepening one’s knowledge.
Reason without faith is vulnerable to just spin in circles, until it loses steam and can slide to skepticism, cynicism, or worse, to chaos and anarchy. Even if one’s reason can have rich immanent activity, in the end it will need a point of reference that simply cannot just be the material world. It needs to transcend to the world of faith.
This is a reality that needs to be highlighted, since many of us, especially our leaders, do not realize it. We tend to pursue our knowing and doing guided by reason alone, with faith regarded at best as a decoration alone, not essential, just optional.
And thus, we need to develop the appropriate attitudes and skills to make this reality our own, not just a theory. We should aim at making this faith-and-reason approach the most ordinary thing we do.
At the moment, we can see a split where there should be unity—either relying solely on reason (rationalism), or the other way around, relying mainly on faith (fideism).
This, of course, will require a lot of effort. Nothing less than a paradigm shift, a drastic change of mind and heart is demanded. But it is worth all the effort, time and money.
The change can start anywhere: in churches, seminaries, schools and universities, families, and in the different fields of human affairs—business, politics, culture, etc.
(Cimagala is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Talamban, Cebu City. Email: roycimagala@gmail.com)
