Throughout his ministry, Jesus promoted human dignity. Jesus went to those who were denied it by society. This is one of the reasons why religious and secular authorities did not like him: they saw his actions as undermining their power, a power which in part, centered upon a construction of society which supported and promoted a few and denigrated the rest. Instead of disassociating with those treated, if not actually deemed, as subhuman because of what they did (such as... Read more
Not only does what Hamas did to Israel deserves widespread condemnation, Israel is certainly justified in defending itself from further, and worse, attacks. Saying this does not mean we should accept a disproportionate response from Israel. Justified self-defense must be done in such a way that the defender does not become an unjust aggressor themselves. There are rules of engagement which must be followed. If Israel does not do so, they can be guilty of war crimes, and those crimes... Read more
The Christian faith is a faith of hope and love, not fear. Those who think they can use threats to frighten people, and through such fear, make them Christians, have ignored or lost an element of the Christian faith, “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7 RSV). We are not to be afraid for Jesus has given us his peace: “Peace I leave with you;... Read more
The truths of the Christian faith have practical implications which follow from them. The teaching of II Nicea, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, concerning the validity of images represents one such implication. It explores how the incarnation demonstrates that we can use images to represent our faith. God, in the incarnation, assumed not just a generic human nature, but became a particular man, Jesus. As every person is not some nebulous, unimaginable blob, but rather, has an imaginable form, so Jesus... Read more
Teachers need to know their students, addressing them according to their abilities. Many do this by finding a way to work as a catalyst, helping their students draw conclusions for themselves. A student who believes they have accomplished something will more likely retain what they learned than if they were just given a lecture and told to remember what they were told. This is not to say there should not be any lectures; they have their uses, but we must... Read more
One of the most attractive elements of the Catholic faith is its teachings, especially those which relate to social justice and the dignity of all creation. One of its least attractive elements is the way so many of its official institutions contradict and resist those teachings. Many become Catholic because of the ideals they hear being presented, but others, including such converts, lose faith when it seems the institutional church does not takes its teachings seriously. It is even worse... Read more
Christians often confuse cultural norms and laws as universal norms which they and everyone else must make made to follow. They think that there is something morally wrong with anyone who doesn’t follow such norms, which means rebels are inherently seen as unholy sinners who should either made to conform to society or treated as outcasts. We can find examples of this throughout history, showing it is a problem not just for one age, but for every age. An example... Read more
One of the great challenges of the Christian faith, and indeed, something which is very difficult for most of us, is the expectation that we are to love everyone, including our enemies. Everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and everyone, due to that, deserves love. Everyone, likewise, has good in them, and so everyone deserves to be loved in accordance to that good. Nonetheless, we find ourselves often in conflict with others, sometimes due to our... Read more
While we often find conflict between people of science and people of faith, such conflict, for the most part, should not exist. The problem lies, not in science, nor in religion, but in ideology, that is in the way some people take a fundamentalistic, rigid approach to some element of faith or science and absolutize it in a way which undermines the fullness of the truth itself. That is, the problem lies with fundamentalism, especially religious fundamentalism, and the way... Read more
Climate change is real. Even if we do not experience the worst case scenario, a massive extinction event which destroys the human race, we will have to deal with its ramifications for years to come. Sadly, we have not done what we could and should be doing, indeed, too many are actively involved in trying to find excuses to ignore or reject the reality of climate change. As a result, we have seen more and more of the impacts of... Read more
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