{"id":1338,"date":"2015-07-11T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2015-07-11T11:00:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T15:00:14","slug":"pope-francis-encyclical-progressivism-theologized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2015\/07\/pope-francis-encyclical-progressivism-theologized.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis’ Encyclical: “Progressivism” Theologized"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laudato Si\u2019, <\/em>Pope Francis\u2019 latest encyclical, is quite provocative.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, though, it provokes us to consider the possibility that its author has more in common with contemporary leftism than traditional Christianity.<\/p>\n

The Pope\u2019s encyclical read as essentially nothing more or less than a protracted, theologized, reiteration of the same \u201cprogressive\u201d drivel that\u2019s been drooled upon us for decades.<\/p>\n

For example, Francis writes: \u201cA very solid scientific consensus<\/em> indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing<\/em> warming<\/em> of the climatic system\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n

Notice, the Pope manages to pack into this one sentence talking points that are part and parcel of the rhetorical arsenal from which his secular counterparts routinely draw: Not only do all<\/em>, or at least most, <\/em>scientists agree (\u201cconsensus\u201d) that global warming is a reality; they agree that this phenomenon is something ominous, something that is \u201cdisturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, while conceding that \u201cthere are other factors\u201d that could account for this danger, Francis concurs with his secular ideological counterparts in claiming that \u201ca number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades\u201d is \u201cdue\u2026mainly\u201d to \u201chuman activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, from beginning to end, the agreement between Francis and those at home sounding the clarion call on \u201cclimate change\u201d is total. \u201cClimate change,\u201d His Holiness continues, \u201crepresents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observe: Among the gravest of problems to which this Pope devotes an entire encyclical is not the unspeakable acts of brutality to which scores of Christian men, women, and children are daily subjected by Islamic militants in countries throughout the Third World, or even the oppression of Christians in such affluent lands as America who are now confronted with legal penalties for failing to violate the dictates of their own consciences by funding abortion services for their employees or accommodating gay wedding celebrations.<\/p>\n

It is climate change that holds this distinction.<\/p>\n

Francis, predictably, exempts the world\u2019s poor of responsibility for climate change. It is on the shoulders of\u2014who else?\u2014Westerners<\/em> that he lays the lion\u2019s share of blame. \u201cMany of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, we in the West are guilty not only of creating most of this \u201cdisturbing warming;\u201d we are guilty as well of evading responsibility for our crime.<\/p>\n

By \u201cwasting water,\u201d both Westerners and, to a lesser extent, those in \u201cdeveloping countries\u201d deny the poorest of the world\u2019s poor their \u201cright to life\u201d and \u201ctheir inalienable dignity.\u201d Access to clean drinking water, you see, is \u201ca basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other such rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is another respect in which Francis reveals his leftist proclivities: Rights, he maintains, are entitlements<\/em> to substantive<\/em> satisfactions, to resources. <\/em>Thus, if I am thirsty but haven\u2019t any money to procure a drink, I am entitled to your <\/em>services just and only insofar as you are able to satiate my thirst. Relieving my thirst now becomes your duty. <\/em> In failing to fulfill this \u201cduty,\u201d you are now guilty of violating my \u201cright to life\u201d and my \u201cinalienable dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

We can take this logic further. Shelter, presumably, must be \u201ca basic and universal human right\u201d too, for \u201cit is essential to human survival\u201d as well. What this implies is that if you and your family are without shelter, and I have even the slightest room in my home where I live with my family, then regardless of the costs for me that this may entail, I have a duty to accommodate you and yours.<\/p>\n

You are entitled<\/em> to nothing less.<\/p>\n

When speaking of the poor\u2019s \u201cinalienable right\u201d to water, the Pope says as much when he speaks of the \u201cgrave social debt\u201d that we owe them. And he follows through on the logic of the \u201cpositive rights\u201d to which he speaks when he goes on to claim that we can fulfill this debt, at least partially, by way of \u201can increase in funding<\/em>\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n

But it gets worse.<\/p>\n

Francis insinuates that funding can only go so far as long as there remains \u201clittle awareness of the seriousness of such behavior\u201d\u2014wastefulness\u2014\u201cwithin a context of great inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read carefully: Ultimately, it isn\u2019t \u201cclimate change\u201d or \u201cglobal warming\u201d that the encyclical is about. It is inequality, <\/em>\u201cgreat <\/em>inequality,\u201d that is the evil that is the center of attention.<\/p>\n

And notice how the Pope implies that in perpetuating or even allowing inequality\u2014again, inequality of resources\u2014<\/em>we are guilty of violating the right to life<\/em> of those who have less than us.<\/p>\n

Now, it has always been understood that to violate a person\u2019s right to life <\/em>is to unjustly kill <\/em>that person. Yet if an unequal \u201cdistribution\u201d (another word that Francis is fond of using) of resources is such that it impedes the poor\u2019s access to goods that are essential to existence, then, according to the Pope, the poor\u2019s \u201cright to life\u201d is undermined. But if this is so, then it is those of us who have freer access to these goods, those of us who have permitted this inequality to persist, who are guilty of violating the poor\u2019s \u201cright to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are, then, in effect, murderers. <\/em><\/p>\n

A lot more can be said about Laudato Si\u2019. <\/em>But the one thing that we cannot <\/em>say about it is that it has anything to do with the Gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laudato Si\u2019, Pope Francis\u2019 latest encyclical, is quite provocative. Unfortunately, though, it provokes us to consider the possibility that its author has more in common with contemporary leftism than traditional Christianity. The Pope\u2019s encyclical read as essentially nothing more or less than a protracted, theologized, reiteration of the same \u201cprogressive\u201d drivel that\u2019s been drooled upon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis' Encyclical: "Progressivism" Theologized<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2015\/07\/pope-francis-encyclical-progressivism-theologized.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis' Encyclical: "Progressivism" Theologized\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Laudato Si\u2019, Pope Francis\u2019 latest encyclical, is quite provocative. 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