{"id":21117,"date":"2017-07-19T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/archbishop-chaput-civilta-cattolica-got-american-christianity-wrong-98376\/"},"modified":"2017-07-19T16:15:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T16:15:00","slug":"archbishop-chaput-civilta-cattolica-got-american-christianity-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/07\/archbishop-chaput-civilta-cattolica-got-american-christianity-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop Chaput: Civilta Cattolica got American Christianity wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 19, 2017 \/ 10:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A prominent Catholic journal\u2019s critique of American religion and politics got quite a bit wrong, Philadelphia\u2019s Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Chaput said the article was \u201can exercise in dumbing down and inadequately presenting the nature of Catholic\/Evangelical cooperation on religious freedom and other key issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing in a July 18 column at CatholicPhilly.com, he noted that Catholic-Evangelical cooperation was \u201cquite rare\u201d when he was a young priest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe divide between Catholic and other faith communities has often run deep. Only real and present danger could draw them together,\u201d the archbishop said. \u201cTheir current mutual aid, the ecumenism that seems to so worry La Civilta Cattolica<\/em>, is a function of shared concerns and principles, not ambition for political power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prominent Jesuit-run journal La Civilta Cattolica<\/em> on July 13 published an analysis piece co-authored by its editor, Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., and Marcelo Figueroa, a Presbyterian pastor who is editor-in-chief of the Argentine edition of L\u2019Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of Vatican City.<\/p>\n

The piece, titled \u201cEvangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A Surprising Ecumenism\u201d made a number of claims, alleging that many conservative Christians have united to promote an \u201cecumenism of hate\u201d in policies that contradict Pope Francis\u2019 message of mercy.<\/p>\n

The piece\u2019s analysis of American Christianity noted various influences like Christian fundamentalism, the \u201cdominionism\u201d of Presbyterian thinker Pastor Rousas John Rushdoony, the Prosperity Gospel, inspirational writer Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, and the polemical lay Catholic site Church Militant. It attempted to link these figures and trends with political trends and figures like Republican strategist Steve Bannon and Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Fr. Spadaro and Pastor Figueroa acknowledged that the erosion of religious liberty is \u201cclearly a grave threat within a spreading secularism,\u201d but said religious freedom should not be defended \u201cin the fundamentalist terms of a \u2018religion in total freedom,\u2019 perceived as a direct virtual challenge to the secularity of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

They claimed that \u201cEvangelical fundamentalists\u201d and \u201cCatholic Integralists\u201d are being brought together in a \u201csurprising ecumenism\u201d by \u201cthe same desire for religious influence in the political sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their article noted the American trend of \u201cvalues voters\u201d whose political decisions prioritize abortion, same-sex marriage, religion in schools and other matters. Both of these Catholic and Evangelical factions, they claimed, \u201ccondemn traditional ecumenism and yet promote an ecumenism of conflict that unites them in the nostalgic dream of a theocratic type of state.\u201d They charged that this collaboration also advances a \u201cxenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations\u201d and thus an \u201cecumenism of hate.\u201d These religious and political trends, they said, were based on \u201cfear of the breakup of a constructed order and the fear of chaos\u201d and \u201cpainting worrying scenarios beyond any realism.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Archbishop Chaput\u2019s view, the article\u2019s description of attacks on religious liberty as a \u201cnarrative of fear\u201d might have made sense 25 years ago, but now sounds \u201cwillfully ignorant.\u201d He charged that the article ignored the fact that \u201cAmerica\u2019s culture wars weren\u2019t wanted, and weren\u2019t started, by people faithful to constant Christian belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s an especially odd kind of surprise when believers are attacked by their co-religionists merely for fighting for what their Churches have always held to be true,\u201d the archbishop said.<\/p>\n

Without mentioning him by name, Archbishop Chaput cited the words of Tim Gill, a Colorado-based multi-millionaire businessman and political strategist who has poured millions of dollars into LGBT activism. Gill was a major funder behind the successful effort to recognize same-sex unions as marriages, while in recent years his grant-making has focused on limiting religious freedom protections he considers discriminatory.<\/p>\n

Gill told Rolling Stone magazine that he now aimed to \u201cpunish the wicked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, to punish those who oppose the LGBT cultural agenda,\u201d added Archbishop Chaput, saying that conflicts over sexual freedom and identity involve \u201can almost perfect inversion of what we once meant by right and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archbishop said Catholics must treat all persons with charity and justice, including \u201cthose who hate what we believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt demands a conversion of heart. It demands patience, courage and humility. We need to shed any self-righteousness. But charity and justice can\u2019t be severed from truth,\u201d he said, citing St. Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans and other biblical calls to \u201csexual integrity and virtuous conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the archbishop, attempting to soften or detour around these calls would demean what Christians have always believed and \u201creduces us to useful tools of those who would smother the faith that so many other Christians have suffered, and are now suffering, to fully witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archbishop Chaput suggested that the article got points of American religion incorrect. American Baptists, for instance, see their faith as undermining the integration of Church and State.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign observers who want to criticize the United States and its religious landscape \u2013 and yes, there\u2019s always plenty to criticize \u2013 should note that fact. It\u2019s rather basic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The archbishop praised religious liberty legal groups like Alliance Defending Freedom and Becket, saying they are \u201cheroes, not \u2018haters\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if their efforts draw Catholics, evangelicals and other people of good will together in common cause, we should thank God for the unity it brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

His column said the La Civilta Cattolica<\/em> article was \u201crightly criticized\u201d and \u201cunfortunate comments,\u201d voicing a broader warning against misunderstanding the political and religious situation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 19, 2017 \/ 10:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A prominent Catholic journal’s critique of American religion and politics got quite a bit wrong, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Chaput sai…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nArchbishop Chaput: Civilta Cattolica got American Christianity wrong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 19, 2017 \/ 10:15 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- A prominent Catholic journal’s critique of American religion and politics got quite a bit wrong, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said yesterday. 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