Freedom of and from Religion

So I asked an impassioned and rather foolish question to Cardinal George when he was here. I stated it poorly, but my point was that people have little confidence that the Church will refrain from enacting laws that burden those of us who aren't Catholic (or Christian, or religious at all). I'll state my case and then explore the question in future posts.

The Church would love to ban abortion in the United States. It has gone so far as to suggest to Catholics that they must vote for pro-life candidates (jeopardizing the Church's nonprofit status, I imagine). I actually don't mind this much. I myself am tepidly pro-life, but it doesn't really matter. The Church should be able to speak out (in a general way) on issues of such importance. I think about the slavery debate, and the role of certain churches in the abolition movement, and I'm glad that churches take moral stands now and then.

The problem is, I suspect the Church would also love to ban all sorts of things. Divorce, contraception, any nonmarital or nonvaginal sex, and masturbation come to mind. Now, in practice most American Catholics wouldn't vote to ban these things, but in principle the Church would want them to. Furthermore, while I don't doubt the fervor of the Church's anti-abortion stance, I'm not sure anyone can draw a meaningful line between things that are REALLY bad and things that are just a little bad (Cardinal George attempted to do so when I talked to him). If you disagree, consider gay marriage. The Church doesn't want gays to enjoy the legal rights associated with civil marriage, and it has shown a willingness to use its political power to this end. I happen to be in favor of gay marriage, but once again it doesn't matter. The Church simply shouldn't intervene politically when the moral issue is so minor.

And that, of course, is the tricky part. The moral dimensions of these issues seem small to me, but perhaps not to people who honestly think it's a horrible sin to give your spouse oral sex. Catholics can put forward serious-sounding arguments about how society will crumble if gays are allowed to marry. I'm sure they can advance serious-sounding arguments about how masturbation is a cancer on our country. In the absence of a limiting principle, all I can say is that abortion really is a profound moral issue and masturbation is not. If you disagree, I can point to nothing to prove you wong.

Of course, the Church should be able to teach whatever it wants, within certain boundaries. It can teach its adherents that masturbation is wrong. Within the limits of the tax rules for nonprofits, it can advocate the criminalization of masturbation. There are other limits besides the legal one, though, and I see it as a violation, not of the law, but of basic civil society for the Church to stick its nose into such matters. Furthermore, citizens should be protected by a constitution from serious intrusions on their liberty. The Church shouldn't be allowed to put into place all the laws it wants, however big a majority it commands. Unfortunately, this is just an ideal, and not one that I know how to implement.

I think there is a better and more complete answer, but it's a very tricky one, and it's one that will no doubt be unacceptable to lots of religious people. I'll start exploring it in the next post.