Report # 16 on Dave Carlin's Book

Report # 16 on Dave Carlin’s Book
Can a Catholic be a Democrat?
Part II (continued) Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008
The Party and the Church are Irreconcilable
Chapter 4 – The Catholic-Secularist Abyss p. 89-93

Let’s state the fact that we have more than a dozen pro-life Democratic Congressmen. I hope they get reelected. What is the beef? The beef is that the National Democratic Party, Secularists and CINOPS are using these Congressmen to promote the national culture of death agenda. (The two A’s, the two E’s and the two SS.)
Moral objectivism versus subjectivism:
When we say that that moral rules or values are subjective, conversely, we mean that they’re manmade creations – invented by some group (a religion, a society, a sub-society) or individual….
Catholics believe that moral values and the rules of morality are objective, not created by humans but created by God…. Secularists believe that moral values and rules are subjective, rooted in nothing more solid than personal or cultural preference….

Absolutism versus relativism:
Catholics will allow that certain rules of morality admit of exceptions or careful distinctions…. Some circumstances – rare no doubt – in which it’s morally permissible, even perhaps morally obligatory, to stretch the truth…. Catholicism does not, however, have this flexibility with regard to all rules of morality. For example, murder (that is, the intentional killing of an innocent human being) is always wrong – no exceptions. And there are many other rules that do not admit of exceptions, that apply to intrinsic evils: one must never commit suicide, one must never commit abortion, none must never engage in acts of adultery or fornication or homosexuality; …
Catholicism, in short, has a long list of moral rules that are exceptionless or absolute. From this flows the traditional principle: do no evil, even if good might come from it….
Secularists are not absolutists; if we take the word relativism to be the opposite of absolutism, they are moral relativists….
Many of the moral disagreements between Catholicism and secularism, quite obviously have to do with matters pertaining to sexuality: fornication, cohabitation, divorce, abortion, homosexuality, and so forth….
The secularist, who believes that we have only one life to live, sees sex as one of the great opportunities for enjoyment available to him…. The great majority of them believe in a certain degree of sexual restraint; … an imprudently conducted sex life can lead to all kinds of problems. But so long as prudence is observed, the secularist would argue, we should be quite free to indulge our wishes for sexual enjoyment….
Catholicism sees sex, like everything created by God, as good in itself, and can agree with the secularist that sex can be a legitimate source of pleasure, intimacy, and personal development. But the Church would add an important qualifier: the utilization of this good thing is rightly reserved, according to Natural Law and divine positive command, to a permanent exclusive relationship with a single member of the opposite sex, secured by the bonds of marriage….
At the same time, the renunciation of all non-marital sex makes good sense according to the Catholic belief in the afterlife. Since our brief lifespan is but a vestibule to eternal life, there’s no need to maximize sexual experience and enjoyment (or, for that matter, any other temporal enjoyment and experiences) here below. (to be continued)

George H. Kubeck, www.cinopsbegone.blogsport.com posted in the early mornings