Wednesday, April 20, 2005

An Intrinsic Moral Evil

So, there you have it, the new pope is Benedict XVI.

In some respects, I think people are overreacting to the choice. “He’s a Nazi!” exclaimed someone at work this morning, ignoring or unaware that membership in the Hitler Youth was mandatory and that the future pontiff was in fact drafted into the German army, from which he eventually deserted. “He’s just a corporate Pope,” commented another, meaning he was “promoted” because he’s been there forever. (Incidentally, I thought this was an odd, insightful comment, coming as it did from a senior investment banker.)

Many in the gay community are experiencing a collective shudder; we know he’s not a fan. But lumping him in with vitriolic homophobes of the Fred Phelps variety isn’t constructive to our cause, either. We must address him objectively, as we would have him address us.

To his credit, he wrote in 1986, “It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation…The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected.”

That concession of “intrinsic dignity” is a small plot of common ground from which we can begin to work. While it remains an echo of the emotionally abusive “love the sinner, hate the sin” doctrine of American evangelicalism, it’s still a comparatively moderate statement.

More recently, the former Cardinal commented, “To create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people.”

To my mind, the problem with this statement lies not with its opposition to gay marriage, but with the inclusion of the word “legal.” On the issue of marriage, religious beliefs should have no bearing on what is legal, and vice versa. A secular couple married in the United States by a judge counts as “married” in the eyes of the government, but not in the church. We will probably never get the Catholic Church to accept same-sex marriages as a sacramental rite, as a basic tenet of their belief is that sex is for the purpose of procreation. As a matter of civil rights, church approval on the issue of same-sex marriage is irrelevant. The Catholic Church disapproves of capital punishment now, but you don’t see the federal government scrambling to comply.

Most troubling was another comment he made in the same 1986 interview cited above, where he said, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”

That’s a tougher challenge.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We know our truths. We know that our identity was not chosen, but rather accepted. We know that what draws us is neither evil nor perversion nor base lust, but rather love as it is known in a universal manner. Do lust, evil and perversion exist? Certainly, and they are aberrations that know no sexual identity. Our own life experiences have taught us that feelings of profound love and commitment between people of the same gender are real and possible and valid. The side of truth is the side of God. We must trust the wisdom and boundless compassion of the Almighty, and trust also that in His time, in His way, he will reveal His truths to those who will listen.

3 comments:

Anthony said...

I will admit I was looking forward to reading your views on the new Pope, and you've not disappointed.

It was perhaps inevitable that the gay community would seize upon his past record. To a great extent, I'm more concerned about this hysterical outcry than I am about Benedict XVI's views on homosexuality - it does nothing but perpetuate the divisions between the community and the church as a whole, the former being as stuck in its ways and unwilling to compromise as it claims the latter to be.

Jesus' teachings show him to be a great humanitarian. Religious or not, I would hope that was something we could all aspire to.

Jess said...

I'll be interested to see what he actually does as Pope, but I can't say that I have high hopes. Certainly, he's no Fred Phelps, but I don't think he's someone I'd like, either.

As for the service in the German Army, I'm not so ready to ignore that. My understanding is that he did go AWOL... after FOUR YEARS! Maybe he really didn't want to be in the Hitler Youth or the Nazi German Army, but I find the explanation a little too pat. Perhaps he really had no choice at all, but what standard should we apply to someone who is now to be seen as having a close connection to the Lord?

Had he been a Catholic priest by that time, then it would be absolutely unforgivable. I still have problems with what I've learned so far, but the future is my greater concern now, as this man has attained a position of enormous power and influence.

Andy said...

Jess, believe it or not, I do share your concerns. Actions speak louder than words, as they say. It's definitely troubling that he sees homosexuality as intrinsically evil. I might be bitchy, but I'm not evil. Also, in Christianity there really is no such thing as absolutely unforgivable. Only Pope Benedict knows what his previous sins are, and for his sake I hope he has made peace with the Lord about it. If God can forgive anything, then so should we.