The Two Ways

Bulletin Column for June 30, 2019

            Recently I read a short book that a parishioner had given me called “Don’t Let the Culture Raise Your Kids”. Written by Marcia Segelstein, she knows quite a bit about the culture, having worked for CBS News and as a columnist.

            But I found the book quite unsatisfying. It spoke at length about the many problems that our young people face in the culture: the all-pervasive Culture of Death, the hedonistic attitudes about sex, the omnipresent consumerism. The book is full of horror stories of how these cultural attitudes are being played out in schools, in the media (especially social media), and in families and neighborhoods across the country.

            But there was a large omission in the book: she did not address the fundamental worldview which produces such moral depravity.

            Why is it that it is so hard to dialogue with people who disagree with us? People who advance the pro-choice or pro-LGBT agendas; our family and friends who may be living questionable lifestyles; the mainstream media who promotes certain viewpoints to the exclusion of others – why can we not find common ground? Because there are two fundamentally different worldviews that people have which are diametrically opposed.

            The first worldview is one I will call the Traditional Christian worldview. This sees the universe as having been created by God and instilled with objective meaning and reality. Human beings are in His image and have a specific destiny (Heaven) and a specific way to attain that (holiness through union with Christ and living like Him). God has revealed truths about Himself, the universe, human beings and our destiny, through Scripture and passed down through unchanging tradition, since God and human nature does not change. God loves us, but calls us to a life of holiness and self-denial.

            The second worldview is one I will call the Modern Secular worldview. Those who hold this worldview believe that the universe as a random product of evolution. Human beings are a more advanced species but still essentially the same as animals. Their destiny is just to make the world a better place (usually defined as one where there is less suffering). Right and wrong, religion and truth, are nothing but cultural constructs that can be changed because all is subjective. If a modern secular believes in God, then He only exists to make us happy and to love us without judging.

            These two worldviews have very little in common. In many ways they are diametrically opposed on some fundamental questions: Did God have a hand in creating the universe, or was it mere chance? What does it mean to be human? What are humans’ relationship to creation? What is the value of human life, human relationships, human sexuality? What is the ultimate destiny of human beings? How should humans understand their relationship to God and His relationship to us? Did God reveal Himself, and are we bound by it? Is there objective reality at all, or is everything subjective? These questions, which are far more fundamental than the “hot-button” issues, is where our real disagreements lie.

            This is not to say that dialogue is impossible. It’s not impossible, but we need to hear the worldview beyond the issue. If our neighbor supports same-sex marriage, we cannot begin dialogue with that topic – first we must understand how deeply they believe in the Modern Secular worldview. If a family member chooses not to attend Mass, we should not always assume it is laziness – frequently it is because they have adopted the Modern Secular worldview.

            Indeed, all of us, living in America in 2019, should examine ourselves to see how much of the Modern Secular worldview we may have unintentionally imbibed.

            In sum, the mess that pervades our culture is deeper than just the hot-button issues. It stems from a fundamental flaw in our worldview, and the only way to correct it is to rectify that underlying cosmology. We do that through conversations and teaching others, but not so much on the issues themselves. Rather, we seek to share our Traditional Christian worldview which sees God and human beings in their proper order.