DAY 4--AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY...

That's right. It is Saturday, the Sabbath, and I am resting, not composing yet another huge post.

On a subject related to the previous posts, however, let me offer this intriguing point/counterpoint for your perusal.

Last year the former Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) wrote an article on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy, in which the following gem (I call it a gem because his point is quite similar to the one I tried to make yesterday) appears:

"Christian belief - following in the way of Jesus - has negated the idea of political theocracy. It has - to express it in modern terms - produced the worldliness of states, wherein Christians along with the adherents of other convictions live together in peace. Thus is distinguished the Christian belief that the Kingdom of God does not exist as a political reality, and cannot so exist, but rather, through faith, hope and love is it attained, and the world transformed from within. But under the conditions of temporality, the Kingdom of God is no worldly empire, but rather, a call for the freedom of humanity and a support for reason that it may fulfill its own mission. The temptations of Jesus were ultimately about this distinction, about the rejection of political theocracy, about the relativity of states and reason’s own law, as well as about the freedom to choose, which is meant for every person. In this sense, the secular state follows from of a fundamental Christian decision, even if it required a long struggle to understand this in all its consequences. This worldly, “secular” state incorporates, in its essence, the balance between reason and religion, which I have tried here to present."

The counterpoint is by a fellow named Stephen Eric Bronner (of Rutgers, evidently), who appears to have completely misunderstood the Pope's point. It is one of the most perfect examples I have ever seen of that all too common phenomenon wherein a Christian and a Secularist experience an utter failure to communicate, much less agree. The man appears to hold as a fundamental presupposition that Faith has no legitimacy whatsoever, nothing at all to contribute to the betterment of human life. Witness this quote.

"Faith, myth, and dogma lie at the core of servitude and authoritarianism. Critique, science, and tolerance – by contrast -- incarnate what little hope that there is for the hopeless."

Take a look at the two articles if you can--they're well worth the time, if only for the contrast between them. I think it nicely sums up the magnitude of the present rift between Faith and Reason.