Sustainability and the “Tsunami of Secularism”

The term sustainability has become commonplace of late.   It is used to convey the notion that everyone has a stake in maintaining our environment.  The business world has adopted it as a mantra for identifying a myriad of issues necessary to compete and thrive in a world of increasing energy costs and heightened consumer demand for the products that are ecologically safe.  Companies are not only expected to manage their carbon footprint and produce “green” products, but to develop strategies for attracting and retaining talent and customers on the basis of being sufficiently “green.”   Failure to accomplish this threatens the sustainability of the business. 

Whether you believe in global warming, climate change, or the effect of human activity on the weather, there seems to be a consensus that “sustainability” is important to our culture and our economy.  And yet, no one seems to notice that the greatest threat to the world is secularism and its broad array of consequences.  At the opening of the recent synod of bishops, Cardinal Wuerl called upon the Catholic Church to “roll back the tsunami of secularism that has swept over modern society in recent decades.”   He said, “The secular world does not see a role for faith, for the belief that we are created in the image of and likeness of God, that there is a moral order that is objective and that we cannot change.” 

What, you may ask, does this have to do with “sustainability?”   The answer lies in recognizing that as the world has become more secular, culture has eroded, families and marriage are in decline, and international demographics have begun to cause economic failure in country after country.  Secularism has redefined the common good and what it means to be a just society.  George Weigel points out that, “­Secularism seeks to drive out of the public square, any consideration of what God or the moral law might require of a just society.”   Our secular educational systems teach that the only moral absolute is that there are no moral absolutes.  Individualism is now taught to be the foundation of society.  Individuals are set free of any moral duties and their only goal is self-preservation and self-interest.  In this context schools teach a new definition of marriage and sexual mores. This stands in opposition to the millennia-old concept of natural law in which the natural family (father, mother and children) was the foundation of society and the root of moral order.

Think I’m exaggerating?  Consider the fact that religion has been under attack throughout Europe and more recently in the USA.  A new law in France will now ban the use of the terms “father” and “mother” with regard to marriage.  When this new law goes into effect, all references to father and mother will be erased from civil code and replaced with the term “parent.”  This is being done to correspond with the new definition of marriage which states: “Marriage is the union of two persons of different or same gender.”  Closer to home, the Obama administration has declared its intent to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act; attempted force a church to retain a gay minister (but lost their case in a 9-0 Supreme Court decision); has defined religious organizations so narrowly that any organization that serves or hires people of a different faith, will be denied exemption from the new HHS mandate.  This latter issue is now the subject of 33 federal lawsuits with more than 100 plaintiffs, including the largest 14 dioceses in the country, numerous Catholic hospital systems and Catholic social service agencies, and a number of employers including Chik-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby.  The HHS mandate is a clear violation of the First Amendment.  The federal government is now dictating that employers, including Catholic hospitals and social service agencies, must provide services, even if they violate their religious convictions.  This same government is attempting to redefine marriage and if that becomes the law of the land, as it is now in France, the Church will be accused of intolerance and discrimination.  Several large Catholic social service agencies have already been forced to close because of their refusal to offer adoptions to gay couples.  The US Catholic Bishops have already declared that if necessary, they will close down Catholic hospitals and social service agencies if necessary, rather than comply with the HHS mandate.  By the way, there are approximately 1600 Catholic hospitals which comprise more than 20% of all hospital beds in the country, and many of these are in urban areas abandoned by for-profit hospitals.

All of this represents an aggressive move toward secularism, and inevitably to the moral decline of our nation.   This threatens our sustainability for several reasons which should be obvious to anyone who looks seriously at what happened in the communist countries where religion was denigrated.  As marriages decline, so do families and the civilizing influence of the moral responsibilities of marriage and family.  Crime increases, as does poverty, and more people look to the government for support of unsustainable social welfare systems.  Rather than fix broken social systems, socialist governments (the more genteel heirs of communism) attempt to sustain society by spending more and more on social welfare and bigger government (70% of all jobs in Greece are government jobs).  But in an era of declining birthrates, the number of workers is not growing fast enough to keep up with the burgeoning elderly population and the increasing number of people expecting government assistance. 

Common sense dictates that the federal government cannot continue to spend $1.40 for every $1.00 of revenue it takes in.  In addition to the $16 trillion national debt, the US faces more than $128 Trillion in unfunded liabilities.  The solution does not lie in simply raising taxes, nor can it be solved by drastic cuts in spending.  True sustainability depends on returning to the moral values that formed the basis for founding our country and made our nation great in the first place, that is, belief in “the laws of nature and nature’s God.”  We violate nature when we deny the truth of our bodies and the nature of marriage and family as the basis of civil society.  No nation can sustain itself when it kills its children.  Fifty-five million Americans have died at the hands of abortionists over the past 38 years.  Imagine how much creativity, productivity, and genius, not to mention earning power and tax dollars, these Americans would be contributing if alive today.  The culture of death is simply not sustainable. 

In the face this worldwide “tsunami of secularism,” the Catholic Church offers a solution, albeit one not well-marketed as yet.  The New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II over twenty years ago, is now revving up.  It offers hope amidst the despair of everything going to hell in a hand basket.  The bishops’ primary role is to teach or “catechize,” and they hope to make a concerted effort to do so in the coming year.  They are devastated by the fact that half of all Catholics voted for President Obama, despite the bishops’ efforts to explain the ramifications of participating in the intrinsic evil of abortion by voting for pro-choice politicians.  Pope Benedict XVI has declared this coming year to be a “Year of Faith” and the US Catholic bishops will attempt to reconnect with all Catholics by instructing them in the primacy of the culture of life, the importance of marriage and family and the implications of losing our freedom of religion.   If successful, more Catholics will come to realize that freedom of conscience is not merely doing what we “feel” is right, but rather, discover the hope and beauty of the moral truths as revealed by Jesus Christ.  By establishing a well-formed moral conscience, Catholics will embrace the culture of life and assume their natural roles as fathers and mothers, taking responsibility for educating their children in the moral truths which are so ridiculed and maligned by secularism.  This is the hope of America.  This is what made us the envy of the world.  This is what our children need from us, rather than the deceit of individualism and the mountain of debt our government seems determined to heap on them.  I urge you to learn more about The New Evangelization.  It is not only the path to sustainability, it offers hope in the face of secularism, and it will benefit our children and grandchildren immensely for generations to come.