Purify Your Bride

Al Gore has actually put his finger on something that I am seeing more and more in politics and religion. People have faith in reason but that faith is being shaken because so many people seem to be thinking irrationally. Gore, of course, makes the mistake most people make and assumes he is immune from this. He sees it in Bush and those who support him but does not see it in the Democrats nearly as much. Well, lots of conservatives would say the opposite. So a partisan shot accusing the other side of poor reasoning is not quite what we need. We need to see the limits of reason.

What are the roots of this unbounded faith in human reason? Think about Martin Luther’s famous statement “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason…  Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.  God help me, Amen.” Notice the importance of human reason in there. In fact it is on the same level as scripture. There is an assumption that what we feel is clear from reason can be trusted as bedrock truth. People would never say they were unable to make errors in reason and logic for Luther’s statement to make sense we need to able to become sure of things through reason.

We can understand Luther’s statement. We know human minds can be influenced by emotion, sin, misleading arguments, etc. We see that in other people and in society at large all the time. Still we see ourselves as being clear thinkers. When we come to a conclusion from “plain reason” we trust it. We won’t leave it unless someone else can convince our reason that we are wrong. Like Luther we can get pretty entrenched in way of thinking without even realizing it.

In today’s society people have gotten very good at manipulating public opinion. People can be made to believe something. It involves a lot of repetition. Always associate it with people that are trusted. Question the motives of those who oppose your position and paint yourself as a selfless seeker of some great good. Weak arguments don’t matter. People might think critically for a while but you can wear them down. Afterwards they assume there is a good rational reason for believing it even if they can’t tell you what that reason is. The trouble is that people know that happens to others but they cannot see it happening to them. They think other people are manipulated but their opinions are well thought out and based on pure reason.

Look at churches today. Do they try and make arguments based on scripture and plain reason? Not really. All the different denominations use the same church growth books. They work regardless of the theology you are teaching. Why? You are instilling opinions in emotional ways. Using human friendships, compelling speakers, and celebrational music. These things will make people not only accept what you are saying but honestly believe they have done so rationally and not based on emotion.

The thing is there is a limit to what you can push on people this way. You are competing with many others who are using the same tricks. So there is a tendancy to soften the message. Make it easier to digest for people in today’s culture. Don’t talk about hell. Avoid calls for sacrifice. Kind of ease them into religion and hope they catch the fire at some point. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they just stay at the ease step.

I wonder if it is a blessing that Catholic churches have been so bad at these emotional church growth things. They are just horid at preaching, music, and friendship evangelism. I wonder is Jesus is saving us from playing the church growth game.  Then all we can offer people is the true gospel, valid sacraments, a magesterium that traces it’s roots back to the apostles, and the communion of the saints worldwide and throughout history. You either understand how awesome that is or you don’t.