In a new e-book, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York writes against those who have offered legal justifications for the torture of prisoners:
In only the last few years we’ve experienced rampant disregard for religious beliefs in this country with the approval of embryonic stem cell research; legal justification for the torture of prisoners; the provision of tax dollars to abortion providers; the HHS mandates; and, most recently, a redefinition of marriage by many of our leading political figures. We can see that there is a loss of a sense of truth here, and objective moral norms—rules of conduct that apply always, to everyone, everywhere—and an “eclipse of a sense of God and of man.”
Those who would paint the U.S. Catholic Bishops (currently led by Dolan) as guided by narrow partisanship, take note. Dolan’s ebook can be purchased here.
June 21st, 2012 | 12:24 am
Those who understand the phrase “exception that proves the rule” take note!
June 21st, 2012 | 10:04 am
First, not all religious people or religions oppose embryonic stem-cell research or same-sex marriage. Second, saying “the provision of tax dollars to abortion providers” makes it sound like tax dollars are paying for abortions, which they are not. I can understand why many object to any funding of Planned Parenthood at all, but the funding that goes to Planned Parenthood doesn’t go for abortions.
We can see that there is a loss of a sense of truth here, and objective moral norms—rules of conduct that apply always, to everyone, everywhere—and an “eclipse of a sense of God and of man.”
The problem is that Cardinal Dolan sees “truth” and “objective moral norms” that apply to “everyone, everywhere,” but there are many who disagree with him. I suppose anyone has a right to claim that their views are objectively true, and imply that anyone who disagrees with them is either mistaken or evil, but just declaring you have objective truth on your side doesn’t make it so. And of course it raises the specter of the accusation that Catholics seem to resent so much—that they want to impose their beliefs on everyone else.
June 21st, 2012 | 1:00 pm
Andrew Sullivan please take note….
June 21st, 2012 | 1:46 pm
Those who would paint the U.S. Catholic Bishops (currently led by Dolan) as guided by narrow partisanship, take note.
Is the implication supposed to be that if you oppose torture, you can’t be a Republican partisan? Does the issue of torture divide Republicans from Democrats—Republicans for, Democrats against?
I don’t think the American Bishops are particularly partisan. I think many of them intensely dislike Obama, and the fact that he is a Democrat is not all that significant. If they were partisan, they wouldn’t have been major supporters of “Obamacare” (before the disagreements over the way abortions were covered).
June 21st, 2012 | 10:00 pm
I don’t think the bishops generally support the conservative line on capital punishment or illegal immigrants either. I suspect their views on environmental issues might tick off the right, too.
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