Today’s Readings (16 June 2014)

No, Greek Orthodox Man, That’s Not Why You Were Denied Communion, by Rod Dreher. A response to an Orthodox man who took to the Washington Post to attack his own church for what he took to be its bigotry in expecting him to live by its moral rules. Rod spots the problem:

[Gregory] Pappas doesn’t even attempt to make a theological case for his position, or to lay out the Church’s teaching, and why he believes he can dissent from it in good conscience. Only this:

 Because, while I may not be a biblical scholar, I believe I’m a good person…

And there you have it. The Bible has no authority over this guy, nor the Church, nor his priest, nor anything other than himself. Gregory Pappas has a good opinion of himself, so what’s the Church’s problem? I think I’m going to tell my priest that I’m not coming back to confession, because in my opinion, I’m a good person, and he’d better not deny me communion, or else I’m going to call him a “fundamentalist.”

Nudge: A War on Moral Judgment, by Frank Furedi in Spiked!. Cass Sunstein’s new book “devotes a lot of resources and time to the rediscovery of the blindingly obvious,” which is that people don’t always act in their best interest (or, I’d add, what others perceive as their best interest). He adds:

As Why Nudge points out, numerous governments have adopted policies that are based on the idea of liberal paternalism. One argument used by supporters of Nudge is that it is a low-cost and effective way of influencing people’s behaviour in ways deemed socially beneficial. However, there is a more fundamental reason why policymakers have been drawn towards Nudge. Throughout the world, governments are struggling to justify their role and authority. In the absence of any real vision about the purpose of government, many politicians have opted for policies designed to save citizens from the negative consequences of their own behaviour.