It can be said that extremes are similar to each other as much as they are different from each other. The Pope tackled and attacked two such extremes in his ‘Thought for the Day’ message to the British people, broadcast on the BBC, in his message for World Peace Day and in his Angelus message on January 1.
The two extremes that he strongly and equally condemned are secularism and religiousfundamentalism.
In his BBC message, the Pope said that “today we see two opposite trends, both negative extremes: on one side, secularism, which often in hidden ways marginalises religion to confine it to the private sphere; on the other side, fundamentalism, which in turn would like to impose itself on all by force.”
Secularism and religious fundamentalism are opposites but are also alike, as both negate the principle of true secularity (in contradistinction to secularism) and legitimate political, social and cultural pluralism.
Both extremes are also alike as both absolutise, in the words of the Pope in his message for World Peace Day, “a reductive and partial vision of the human person, favouring in the one case, forms of religious integralism and, in the other, of rationalism”. He says society is unjust to individuals, God and itself when it violently imposes or rejects religion.
In the same message, the Pope says even those who prefer not to profess any religion should not find any obstacles. What a far cry from the time when Catholic scholars used to justify injustices in religious freedom basing themselves on the maxim that “error has no rights”!
The Pope equates the two evils: “Whenever the legal system at any level – national or international – allows or tolerates religious or anti-religious fanaticism, it fails in its mission, which is to protect and promote justice and the rights of all.”
This does not mean that the Pope believes that all religions are equally valid or that non-adherence to religion is something as good asadherence to a religion. Naturally, the Pope believes Christ is the ultimate word of the Father, and in Christianity as the Way. Naturally, he is against a relativistic view of life and a subjective outlook on morality.
This attitude, the Pope quite rightly believes, is even undermining the championing of the Declaration of Human Rights as a collection of universally recognised values. However, he believes equally strongly in the dignity of each human person and in the respect for each person, as well as his or her religious or non-religious choices.
In the same message, the Pope returns to a theme in his speech last September at Westminster, London, on the marginalisation of religion in western societies:
“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity.
“There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.
“There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.
“And there are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs.”
The situation is escalating so much so that Pope is now even speaking of Christiano-phobia even in the West.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt