The Papal Encyclicals

I once read a sample of Pope John Paul II's encyclicals for an undergraduate class, and came away deeply impressed with the depth of his knowledge and clarity and of thought. After my last discussion with Esquire about Islam, I decided I'd read through some of the passages again. I did so because, while Esquire may have mistaken our debate as a chance to highlight Christianity's virtues and convert me, I'm a believer. (So stand down, proselytizer!)

That is, even while I disagree with the Church's stance on certain issues, I still allow its teachings a primary place in my political thought, always present to negotiate with my other impulses and leanings.

These excerpts struck me as particularly relevant and deeply moving:

When people think they possess the secret of a perfect social organization which makes evil impossible, they also think that they can use any means, including violence and deceit, in order to bring that organization into being. Politics then becomes a "secular religion" which operates under the illusion of creating paradise in this world. But no political society — which possesses its own autonomy and laws — can ever be confused with the Kingdom of God.

This is in line with what Esquire mentioned about Christianity's vision of limited government. But the Pope also clarifies this sentiment in a following paragraph (taken from his 1991 encyclical):

What Sacred Scripture teaches us about the prospects of the Kingdom of God is not without consequences for the life of temporal societies, which, as the adjective indicates, belong to the realm of time, with all that this implies of imperfection and impermanence. The Kingdom of God, being in the world without being of the world, throws light on the order of human society, while the power of grace penetrates that order and gives it life. In this way the requirements of a society worthy of man are better perceived, deviations are corrected, the courage to work for what is good is reinforced. In union with all people of good will, Christians, especially the laity, are called to this task of imbuing human realities with the Gospel.

In a later encyclical on the value of life, published in 1995, the Pope spoke again about the relationship between civil and moral law according to Christian thought:

Certainly the purpose of civil law is different and more limited in scope than that of the moral law. But "in no sphere of life can the civil law take the place of conscience or dictate norms concerning things which are outside its competence", which is that of ensuring the common good of people through the recognition and defence of their fundamental rights, and the promotion of peace and of public morality. The real purpose of civil law is to guarantee an ordered social coexistence in true justice, so that all may "lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way" (1 Tim 2:2). Precisely for this reason, civil law must ensure that all members of society enjoy respect for certain fundamental rights which innately belong to the person, rights which every positive law must recognize and guarantee. First and fundamental among these is the inviolable right to life of every innocent human being...

But, again, he later on says civil law is always and everywhere subservient to "eternal law," that is, any law in contradiction with God's will is no law at all:

The doctrine on the necessary conformity of civil law with the moral law is in continuity with the whole tradition of the Church. This is clear once more from John XXIII's Encyclical: "Authority is a postulate of the moral order and derives from God. Consequently, laws and decrees enacted in contravention of the moral order, and hence of the divine will, can have no binding force in conscience...; indeed, the passing of such laws undermines the very nature of authority and results in shameful abuse".

And for good measure, here's video of Christopher Hitchens on the notion of "free will" in Christianity (the argument I mentioned in the comments section): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg5UNxOmTIY