Dear St. Rita Families,
With the election around the corner, it is good for us to take one last look at the place of our Faith in politics. The oft-repeated line of “separation of Church and State” has taken on a life of its own in the minds of Catholics (and the whole country) that does not accurately reflect the Divine perspective on things. Alongside the fact that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment can be interpreted much differently than a “wall of separation” (that specific conversation is not the main subject of this missive and is not my expertise), as Catholics we recognize that from the Divine point of view, Church and State actually have the same goal.
That idea may sound silly to modern ears, or – dare I say it – like heresy! America as a free country has been understood to mean that I can do whatever I want, and I am free to define my own version of reality. However, philosophically, that position is untenable. I am no more free to define my own reality about the nature of life and good and evil, etc. than I am to define that 2 +2 = 5. I am necessarily subject to certain truths that are knowable outside of myself, and there are moral truths and philosophical truths that are outside of myself! The kind of freedom that we are made with is subject to our human nature and what is good for it. Thus, freedom is not the ability to do whatever I want; freedom is the ability to do what is good (which is also, hopefully, what I actually want!). And therefore it behooves every man to ask “What is good?”
The State, like the Church, should seek the good of its citizens, which must include a certain amount of leeway to seek and discover that good. But the State, likewise, puts in place laws for the just governing of society, and those laws not only keep good order, but they also guide the subjects of the State toward acting and living well. You see, civil laws have a moral character as well. St. Peter says, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors sent by him to punish those who do wrong and praise those who do right” (1 Peter 2:13-14). St. Paul likewise tells the Romans, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (13:1-2). And of course, Christ Himself, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God” (Mk 12:17). Caesar merits more than just taxes.
It goes without saying that we do not seek a theocracy or a world where heretics are burned at the stake (which, incidentally, was much less common than modern historians would have us believe). But it must be said that if God has established civil governing authority as the Scriptures indicate (and He certainly has also established the Church), then the goal of the Church and the State is indeed somehow the same, because God is not divided against Himself (cf. Mt 12:25).[i] Thus, the State legitimately seeks the salvation of its people, albeit according to its proper sphere of influence. In modern states where religious belief is so diverse, the argumentation for and about the good must also include reasoning that can be understood across the lines of religious belief. We talk more about human goods than about Scripture passages in these cases. But plurality of religious belief does not change that which is fundamentally good, though it can change how that good is promoted or encouraged legally.
A final point here is that being subject to human institutions and governments does, according to the Church, have its limits. No one can be forced to act according to conscience, nor does a civil law requiring sin permit one to commit that sin. A law that forces one to sin is the very definition of an unjust law. Thus, those types of laws merit – even require – civil disobedience. We are fortunate to live in a country where free speech is permitted and (at least officially) encouraged, and so it is good for us to use it to encourage truth and goodness. Recognizing, too, that there are those who wish to silence free speech, it is all the more important that Christ’s Truth be proclaimed. The Truth belongs in the public sphere and in civil discourse. It is an act of charity to proclaim that which God – Charity Himself – has revealed to us as True and Good. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise!
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen
[i] In the same vein, to claim one thing privately and another publicly is to be divided against oneself. It would be to separate Church and State in a way that is improper.