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{"id":26540,"date":"2014-03-07T18:06:05","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T23:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?p=26540"},"modified":"2014-03-07T18:06:05","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T23:06:05","slug":"no-more-non-negotiables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/03\/07\/no-more-non-negotiables\/","title":{"rendered":"No more non-negotiables"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In another of his off-the-cuff remarks to a journalist, this time at Corriere della Serra<\/em>, Pope Francis took issue with the bifurcation of Church moral teachings into \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d and \u201cnegotiable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Here is what he said: \u201cI have never understood the expression non-negotiable values. Values are values, and that is it. I can\u2019t say that, of the fingers of a hand, there is one less useful than the rest. Whereby I do not understand in what sense there may be negotiable values. I wrote in the exhortation \u2018Evangelii Gaudium\u2019 what I wanted to say on the theme of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

American Catholics have been accustomed to this for years. Groups like Catholic Answers have come up with a list of non-negotiables, five of them \u2013 abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, embryonic stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage. The logic is that since these are \u201cintrinsically evil\u201d, they can never be supported. Everything else is \u201cnegotiable\u201d in the sense that prudential differences are possible.<\/p>\n

Clearly, this does not pass the smell test. The concept of \u201cinstrinic evil\u201d is simply not a useful way of thinking about public policy \u2013 after all, masturbation is intrinsically evil, while drunk driving is not. This\u00a0argument was made brilliantly by Bishop Robert McElroy <\/a>in America<\/em> magazine, which has become essential reading for American Catholics.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0an example: war is not intrinsically evil,\u00a0 because some wars are just. Taken to its logical and absurb conclusion, this approach to public morality would argue that what Bashar al-Assad is doing in Syria is not \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d and so can be supported. A less extreme example\u00a0concerns poverty reduction. Yes, this is a prudential issue, and yes, there are many approaches consistent with Catholic social teaching. But actions to make the poor poorer and the rich richer is not one of them.<\/p>\n

As Pope Francis puts it, values are values. Protecting life is non-negotiable.\u00a0Social justice is non-negotiable. Protecting the planet is non-negotiable.<\/p>\n

This bifuracation \u2013 an approach that, as Henri de Lubac once said, reflects more of a Protestant than a Catholic outlook \u2013 has always been about certain American Catholics imparting a fake apostolic blessing on a particular political party. It has never been consistently Catholic in its approach. Hopefully, this comedy is now over.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"