{"id":67,"date":"2010-09-17T23:04:46","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T23:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/09\/in-britain-pope-benedict-xvi-warns-against-both-religious-and-secular-extremism.html"},"modified":"2010-09-17T23:04:46","modified_gmt":"2010-09-17T23:04:46","slug":"in-britain-pope-benedict-xvi-warns-against-both-religious-and-secular-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/09\/in-britain-pope-benedict-xvi-warns-against-both-religious-and-secular-extremism.html","title":{"rendered":"In Britain Pope Benedict XVI warns against both religious and secular extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"

While British police continued to investigate a possible plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI<\/a> during his trip to London, the Pontiff delivered a speech<\/a> to the country’s political elite gathered at Westminster Hall in which he spoke of the need to balance religious faith and reason. <\/p>\n

To let either exert undue control over the other, he suggested, is to give rise to either sectarianism and fundamentalism on the one hand or statist secular ideologies that can undermine the God-given rights and dignity of individuals on the other. Both extremes tend toward the dangerous and oppressive. <\/p>\n

Here’s the gist of what he had to say: <\/p>\n

“The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation
\nfor political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the
\nobjective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding
\nfrom the content of revelation.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“According to this understanding, the role of
\nreligion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they
\ncould not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political
\nsolutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but
\nrather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the
\ndiscovery of objective moral principles.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“This “corrective” role of religion
\nvis-\u00e0-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms
\nof religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create
\nserious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of
\nreligion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and
\nstructuring role of reason within religion.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“It is a two-way process. Without the
\ncorrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to
\ndistortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way
\nthat fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse
\nof reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place
\nand to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the
\ntwentieth century.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the
\nworld of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious
\nbelief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and
\nongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.<\/i><\/p>\n

“Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a
\nvital contributor to the national conversation. In this light, I cannot but
\nvoice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of
\nChristianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place
\na great emphasis on tolerance.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“There are those who would advocate that the voice
\nof religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.
\nThere are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as
\nChristmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might
\nsomehow offend those of other religions or none. And there are those who argue –
\nparadoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians
\nin public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience.
<\/i><\/p>\n

“These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of
\nbelievers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the
\nlegitimate role of religion in the public square. I would invite all of you,
\ntherefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of
\npromoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of
\nnational life.”<\/i><\/p>\n

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

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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. 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