{"id":2635,"date":"2008-06-04T07:21:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-04T07:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/06\/the-dogmatic-non-dogmatist\/"},"modified":"2008-06-04T07:21:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-04T07:21:00","slug":"the-dogmatic-non-dogmatist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/06\/the-dogmatic-non-dogmatist.html","title":{"rendered":"The Dogmatic non Dogmatist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

OBAMA: Yeah, although I don\u2019t, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I\u2019m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I\u2019ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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This is so fashionable. So easy. It\u2019s John Lennon religion. Let\u2019s imagine the world with no heaven or hell, you can have religion, but there will be no dogma. Well, there\u2019s not really religion without dogma. There\u2019s only a matter of opinion. Without dogma there\u2019s only spirituality, and without dogma even spirituality is only sentimentality.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cOh, dogma divides!\u201d bleat the lost sheep. Of course it does. Did they forget the Master said, \u201cI did not come to bring peace, but a sword. It will divide mother and daughter, brother and sister. Unless you hate your family and friends you cannot be my disciple.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Dogma divides, but the ironic thing is that it is only dogma that truly unites. How can anyone unite together unless they believe the same thing, and how can they believe anything lest there be dogma? In fact, what the dogmatic non dogmatists can\u2019t see is that they have dogma too: their own dogma. Unless you subscribe to their dogma, you\u2019re an outcast.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Cardinal Newman said, (and I paraphrase) \u201cif Christianity is to be both dogmatic and relevant to the current age, it must have an infallible expounder.\u201d The only reason dogma divides is that there is no agreed authority system to define and defend the dogma. If everyone makes up their own religion from Muslims to Methodists to Mormons<\/a>, from Episcopalians to Pentecostalists, from Seventh Day Adventists to Secularists and all the rest, then of course dogma divides.<\/span><\/div>\n

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But if there is an agreed authority that defends and defines dogma, why then every sincere searcher for truth should seek out that authority.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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It was that search that took me to England, and then to Rome, where I found the successor of Peter the Rock.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OBAMA: Yeah, although I don\u2019t, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I\u2019m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I\u2019ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others. This is so fashionable. So easy. It\u2019s John […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Dogmatic non Dogmatist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OBAMA: Yeah, although I don't, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. 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