Comments on: Mark Oppenheimer’s False Dichotomies

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 21:23:57 +0000

Two thoughts: when Oppenheimer speaks of “messy intellectual complexity” he’s most likely talking about sex; you need to embrace “complexity” to get around the Church’s teachings and not, in a liberal view, be mean about it all.

Two, the point about the conservative priest friends not sounding very conservative on some issues is unfair to conservatives. It sets up a caricature of conservatives as greedy warmongers, finds that real people don’t meet that image, and then declares it evidence that these guys are not 100% conservative.

By: SUNDAY EVENING GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit

SUNDAY EVENING GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 20:32:29 +0000

[...] Mark Oppenheimer’s False Dichotomies – Anna Williams, First Thoughts [...]

By: Black Vestments French Revolution Pantheon Nuns Pornography | Big Pulpit

Black Vestments French Revolution Pantheon Nuns Pornography | Big Pulpit — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 00:52:20 +0000

[...] Biased Reporting Comparing Dissident Nuns & Faithful Nuns – Anna Williams, First Things [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:55:27 +0000

Katherine,

Conservatives are right that marriage is built on lifelong commitments of fidelity and trust and that marriage is an indispensable building block for any society. Liberals are right that gays who practice lifelong commitments should have their marriages legally recognized.

By: Heraclitus

Heraclitus — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:29:32 +0000

This post has special ironic resonance for me: before I “reverted” back to the Church I, like so many liberal modernists, was swollen with pride and convinced that I was a deep, bold, and independent “thinker,” unlike those conservative, orthodox simpletons. But what drew me back to orthodox faith was that I increasingly saw how much more deep, cogent, and critically perceptive orthodox Catholic philosophy and theology is than most gave it credit for. Now, to me, the bromides of secular soi-disant “thinkers” and of liberal “theologians” strike me as so much mushy-headed, cliched, incoherent prattle that, however, still dresses itself up as “comfort with ambiguity” and “sensativity to complexity.”

By: 10.27.2012 Sister News Weekend « SisterNews.net

10.27.2012 Sister News Weekend « SisterNews.net — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 02:23:32 +0000

[...] Mark Oppenheimer’s False Dichotomies by Anna Williams on First [...]

By: Katherine Infantine

Katherine Infantine — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 00:19:22 +0000

Michael, how can conservatives be right about marriage and liberals be right about gay rights? The conservative stance is that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman. The liberal gay rights stance is the exact opposite.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 00:06:44 +0000

Conservatives are right about abortion, marriage, and family. Liberals are right about peace, social justice, and gay rights. Christians should bridge the gap between the two.

By: Adam Baum

Adam Baum — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:43:04 +0000

“And a Benedictine priest I know—also one who could be called conservative—has remarked that it’s a pity the U.S. spends billions of dollars on wars overseas when there’s so much poverty on our shores.”

The problem with this analogy is that we have spent billions on wars (and billions more on systems designed to prevent wars) that is true-and with mixed results-but we’ve spent TRILLIONS on programs designed to mitigate poverty and we seem to have greater poverty, which is always and everywhere assumed to be the result of inadequate expenditures by the (federal) government, when the record is that poverty increases with greater federal activity.

By: Adam Baum

Adam Baum — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:35:32 +0000

“After lunch I sat in a living room and talked with about a dozen young sisters. They resisted my insinuation that they cared only about the church’s “conservative” positions. “If you don’t care about the dignity of the human person, it makes no sense to talk about education or war in Iraq,” said Sister Hannah, an African-American woman who majored in philosophy at Notre Dame. “So pro-life is foundational that way. But we do care about other issues.”

We need to get past the idea that “caring” is in of itself a virtue. Caring incompetently, or disproportionately or inordinately is vanity and irresponsibility.

I’ve yet to see where any of the “Nuns on the Bus” exhibit any education, training or experience in finance or economics, the foundational competencies required to opine on the fiscal issues they “care” so much about. Instead, they brandish their titles as indicia of competency and authority.

When it comes right down to it, before you build a bridge, you need to understand physics and engineering-to draft a budget, you need to know economics and finance-otherwise, you put other people in peril.

There younger sisters seem to care about that which they know, and in proper order and proportion.