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{"id":1345,"date":"2015-05-23T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/05\/catholics-for-consequentialism.html"},"modified":"2015-05-23T21:17:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T21:17:00","slug":"catholics-for-consequentialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/05\/catholics-for-consequentialism.html","title":{"rendered":"Catholics for consequentialism?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So it was at first a bit of a shock when I saw that Mark Shea, one of the most vocal crusaders against consequentialism, posted a post in which he seemed to be saying stealing from people with abundance was justified<\/a>. \u00a0Of course by abundance, we always mean people with more than us. \u00a0Not us. <\/p>\n

Now there is a long history of feeling that those who have obtained their wealth dishonestly deserve what they get. \u00a0And if you steal from someone who has taken wealth wrongly, and give it to those who are in need, there are worse things in the world. \u00a0But this post seemed to be saying the rich deserve what they get, no rules. \u00a0No Commandments. \u00a0As long as you\u2019re doing it to the rich, you\u2019re in the clear.<\/p>\n

Now, in fairness, I\u2019ve learned that consequentalism, like so many things across the Catholic blogosphere, is only an evil as long as it advances the Cause or wins the latest argument. \u00a0So when Catholics violate the Church\u2019s clear teaching about how to treat others, or not judging, or interpreting what people say in the best way, it doesn\u2019t matter. \u00a0For the sake of greater good they are free to ignore those teachings. \u00a0Even the teachings of Jesus! And that\u2019s how they justify it! \u00a0They\u2019re doing it for the greater good.<\/p>\n

And clearly if it isn\u2019t an intrinsic evil, there is no end to the wiggle room that Catholics can find across the blogosphere to justify things. \u00a0Why, it has been said a million times that it\u2019s better that ten thousand babies be murdered than to tell a white lie to save them. \u00a0Nonetheless, you are free to be dishonest, deceitful, and to weave entire tapestries of falsehoods as long as you don\u2019t technically lie. \u00a0After all, being false is not an intrinsic evil. \u00a0Only lying is.<\/p>\n

So unless you can show that all stealing is actually an intrinsic evil, then sometimes it might be awesome. \u00a0That\u2019s not to say you can ask such questions about interrogation methods or anything. \u00a0Then you\u2019re just trying to be stupid and consistent. \u00a0In the case of torture, it\u2019s always evil and anything done might be evil without question. \u00a0But stealing isn\u2019t always evil so it can sometimes be right unless not.<\/p>\n

See how easy it is? \u00a0Are you confused yet? \u00a0For my money, I was more interested in this post<\/a>, in which Mark praised those holding truly consistent pro-life ethics, including an obviously progressive evangelical who, by his own website, opposes increasing the legal restrictions on abortion rights. \u00a0Sure, like most liberal Christians he says he\u2019s opposed to abortion. \u00a0Just like President Obama. \u00a0But like most, apparently he believes that the right to abortion shall not be infringed upon while we seek to eliminate the root causes of abortion like poverty. Something that used to be not pro-life. <\/p>\n

Perhaps I misread the evangelical, but he echoed, along with his support of gay marriage, the same viewpoints I heard other liberal evangelicals hold. \u00a0So I would be interested in knowing how someone opposed to legally restricting abortions can be consistently pro-life, while a person holding to the Church\u2019s traditional teaching \u2013 and still its official teaching \u2013 regarding the death penalty is not. \u00a0But then, again, if you\u2019re asking questions like this about the Catholic blogosphere, or how a self proclaimed conservative Catholic can love liberalism and hate conservatism, then I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re just being stupid and consistent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"