Re: Catholic Charities Not Bending the Knee to Baal

[RJLipkin]

In a message dated 3/11/2006 12:27:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The issue is whether we should believe God's moral teachings or the moral teachings of secular elites. That is an easy choice for me, as it appears to be for Benedict XVI.         Rick, isn't the question--at least for religionists--what are "God's moral teachings" and who gets to decide this? I too am not a Catholic theologian, but a Catholic once told me that the Pope became infallible in the 16th or 17th century. If so, the choice of Pope as the authoritative interpreter of Catholic faith and morals was not a feature of the original Church and is arguably man, not God, made.           Perhaps there's too great a gulf here, but I try to understand those who condemn homosexuality as immoral, and if I were compelled to do so, I suppose I could construct a relatively plausible argument against same-sex marriage. I wonder whether Christians (and here again I speak as an outsider) who cherish love and understanding can construct a relatively plausible argument that includes homosexuality as part of the "essence of the Created Order."           As for "Christianity" I am certainly incompetent to attempt to explicate its meaning.  But wasn't slavery and segregation argued for on the same grounds as being required by Christianity?           I suppose Rick might find tedious the argument comparing the condemnation of same-sex marriage with the condemnation of miscegenation. The comparison overlooks, of course, what he takes to be a morally relevant difference between the two. But it's difficult for many of us to appreciate what this relevant difference is on moral grounds.  And so the gulf probably is too wide.           One final point.  The use of "secular elites," in my view, is unfair.  There are many Christians--even Catholics--who reject the Pope's morality, and many secularists who agree with it. I doubt that the proponents and opponents of same-sex marriage can be clearly distinguished as secularists and religionists.   Bobby   Robert Justin Lipkin Professor of Law Widener University School of Law Delaware

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