Pope wants Church to uphold `Western’ values?
By Swapan Dasgupta
The British conservative writer Roger Scruton is admired for his intellectual rigour, penetrating logic and profound understanding of Western civilisation. During an interview in 1996, he was asked if his erudition lacked a human touch. "I can’t simultaneously develop an argument and appear like a human being", he retorted.
Scruton’s blunt assertion of the autonomy of thought comes to mind in the context of the controversy that has accompanied the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Apart from his stint in the Hitler Youth, into which he was conscripted as a young boy, the new Pope has been flayed for his doctrinaire conservatism and his complete insensitivity to modern society including, it may be added, rock music.
True, there is a grudging recognition of his accomplishments as a theologian, including his ability to parley on equal terms with heavyweights such as the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas. However, his scholastic erudition is offset by the fear that in upholding the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church he will relegate its pastoral obligations to the background.
Benedict XVI may be an intellectual, say his detractors, but he lacks the human touch and charisma of his Polish predecessor. Judged by the yardstick of political correctness, the new Pope has a track record of defying fashion. He has been steadfast in his denunciation of the over-secularisation of Europe.
He has resolutely condemned the "dictatorship of relativism" and called upon Christians to "intensively live in combat with what is evil in the world while demonstrating what is good." He has denounced homosexuality as an "intrinsic moral evil" and "objective disorder". He has had liberation theologists in Latin America excommunicated and attacked American evangelists for their predatory proselytisation.
Finally, he has championed a form of Christian cultural nationalism for Europe and repudiated multiculturalism as "fleeing from what is one’s own." The Catholic Church, he has argued, "can be contemporary by being anti-contemporary."
There is no doubt that many of the Pope’s earlier certitudes will be tempered by the compulsions of office. Yet, the election of Pope Benedict is certain to mark a significant shift in the style and priorities of the Catholic Church. First, there is certain to be slow movement away from the politically volatile project of mindlessly adding to the numbers of the faithful.
The new Pope’s emphasis will be on consolidation and the revival of Christianity among those who already call themselves Christians. His target will be the secular cosmopolitanism that is so marked in the public life of the European Union. In an interview to a French newspaper last year, the erstwhile Cardinal Ratzinger defined Europe as a "cultural" rather than a geographical entity. To him, what binds Europe together is Christianity.
This is why he opposed the inclusion of Muslim Turkey into the EU. Turkey, he told Le Figaro, "has always represented a different continent. Making the two continents identical would be a mistake. It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics. Turkey could, he argued, "try to set up acultural continent with neighbouring Arab countries and become the protagonist of a culture with its own identity."
What emerges quite clearly is the fact that he doesn’t see Islam as an enemy that warrants another crusade-although many of his countrymen are alarmed by the fact that there are more Muslims in Berlin than Catholics. His greatest concern is the sharp secularisation of public life and the growing disavowal of the Christian inheritance among both Catholics and Protestants. He sees the moral collapse of Europe as stemming from this godless secularism.
Many Indians have been offended by the new Pope’s earlier description of Buddhism as "spiritual, mental auto-eroticism" and the 1990 warning from the Vatican to shun "non- Christian forms of meditation" such as transcendental meditation, yoga and Zen. To my mind, this is an assertion of Christian distinctiveness and a reaffirmation of the principle of the jealous God.
The Pope is essentially asking his congregation to be clear in their mind that their religious loyalty is exclusively Christian. He feels their faith in Jesus Christ is naturally in conflict with a dalliance in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living.
It is undeniable that much of what Pope Benedict stands for is at variance with eastern, particularly Hindu beliefs. His first sermon as Pope was a devastating indictment of "a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as for certain". It could well be interpreted as an attack on the very negotiable belief structures of Hindus and a reaffirmation of the "jealous God" principle which Indians find abhorrent.
That, however, would be taking the Pope’s message out of context. His attack was on the permissiveness that weakens the moral defences of the West in the battle against evil. His primary target is Western decadence, not non-Semitic religions that are founded on very different assumptions. This Pope’s priority is Europe and western civilisation which is at the heart of the Catholic Church.
He is not that preoccupied with harvesting souls from cultures that are at odds with the remarkable certitudes of Christendom. Goody-goody inanities like multi-faith dialogues and multiculturalism didn’t interest the erstwhile Cardinal Ratzinger. I doubt they will be a driving passion of Pope Benedict XVI. And for good reason too.
Christianity as an organised religion that emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire is essentially a western institution. Its fundamental tenets and its theological underpinnings are located in western civilisation. Liberation theology, American-style evangelism and Christian social activism are newfangled branch lines that bear little relationship to the core identity of the Church. In emphasising the umbilical cord that ties Christianity to the West, the new Pope is undertaking a back-to-basics campaign. He wants the Church to be a moral force for upholding Christian values, by which is meant "western" values.
He doesn’t see Catholicism as a pale imitation of Oxfam and Amnesty International. I really can’t say whether Pope Benedict believes in the validity of Christianity in a non-western context. My own hunch is that he would be inherently more comfortable with those 19th century Anglicans who sought to create good Christians by turning Indians into black Englishmen.
He would be a trifle uneasy with some of his own co-religionists who established Catholic ashrams and conducted artis to Jesus. This is a Pope who knows that Christianity is in crisis in its home turf and that it is his job to put his own house in order first. He is a reformer, not an evangelist. Under him, the relationship of Indian religions with the Roman Catholic Church can assume a more interesting dimension. That is, of course, if the local Catholic Church comprehends what this Pope is all about.
Send in your comments on this article to samachareditor@sify.com
The British conservative writer Roger Scruton is admired for his intellectual rigour, penetrating logic and profound understanding of Western civilisation. During an interview in 1996, he was asked if his erudition lacked a human touch. "I can’t simultaneously develop an argument and appear like a human being", he retorted.
Scruton’s blunt assertion of the autonomy of thought comes to mind in the context of the controversy that has accompanied the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. Apart from his stint in the Hitler Youth, into which he was conscripted as a young boy, the new Pope has been flayed for his doctrinaire conservatism and his complete insensitivity to modern society including, it may be added, rock music.
True, there is a grudging recognition of his accomplishments as a theologian, including his ability to parley on equal terms with heavyweights such as the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas. However, his scholastic erudition is offset by the fear that in upholding the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church he will relegate its pastoral obligations to the background.
Benedict XVI may be an intellectual, say his detractors, but he lacks the human touch and charisma of his Polish predecessor. Judged by the yardstick of political correctness, the new Pope has a track record of defying fashion. He has been steadfast in his denunciation of the over-secularisation of Europe.
He has resolutely condemned the "dictatorship of relativism" and called upon Christians to "intensively live in combat with what is evil in the world while demonstrating what is good." He has denounced homosexuality as an "intrinsic moral evil" and "objective disorder". He has had liberation theologists in Latin America excommunicated and attacked American evangelists for their predatory proselytisation.
Finally, he has championed a form of Christian cultural nationalism for Europe and repudiated multiculturalism as "fleeing from what is one’s own." The Catholic Church, he has argued, "can be contemporary by being anti-contemporary."
There is no doubt that many of the Pope’s earlier certitudes will be tempered by the compulsions of office. Yet, the election of Pope Benedict is certain to mark a significant shift in the style and priorities of the Catholic Church. First, there is certain to be slow movement away from the politically volatile project of mindlessly adding to the numbers of the faithful.
The new Pope’s emphasis will be on consolidation and the revival of Christianity among those who already call themselves Christians. His target will be the secular cosmopolitanism that is so marked in the public life of the European Union. In an interview to a French newspaper last year, the erstwhile Cardinal Ratzinger defined Europe as a "cultural" rather than a geographical entity. To him, what binds Europe together is Christianity.
This is why he opposed the inclusion of Muslim Turkey into the EU. Turkey, he told Le Figaro, "has always represented a different continent. Making the two continents identical would be a mistake. It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics. Turkey could, he argued, "try to set up acultural continent with neighbouring Arab countries and become the protagonist of a culture with its own identity."
What emerges quite clearly is the fact that he doesn’t see Islam as an enemy that warrants another crusade-although many of his countrymen are alarmed by the fact that there are more Muslims in Berlin than Catholics. His greatest concern is the sharp secularisation of public life and the growing disavowal of the Christian inheritance among both Catholics and Protestants. He sees the moral collapse of Europe as stemming from this godless secularism.
Many Indians have been offended by the new Pope’s earlier description of Buddhism as "spiritual, mental auto-eroticism" and the 1990 warning from the Vatican to shun "non- Christian forms of meditation" such as transcendental meditation, yoga and Zen. To my mind, this is an assertion of Christian distinctiveness and a reaffirmation of the principle of the jealous God.
The Pope is essentially asking his congregation to be clear in their mind that their religious loyalty is exclusively Christian. He feels their faith in Jesus Christ is naturally in conflict with a dalliance in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living.
It is undeniable that much of what Pope Benedict stands for is at variance with eastern, particularly Hindu beliefs. His first sermon as Pope was a devastating indictment of "a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as for certain". It could well be interpreted as an attack on the very negotiable belief structures of Hindus and a reaffirmation of the "jealous God" principle which Indians find abhorrent.
That, however, would be taking the Pope’s message out of context. His attack was on the permissiveness that weakens the moral defences of the West in the battle against evil. His primary target is Western decadence, not non-Semitic religions that are founded on very different assumptions. This Pope’s priority is Europe and western civilisation which is at the heart of the Catholic Church.
He is not that preoccupied with harvesting souls from cultures that are at odds with the remarkable certitudes of Christendom. Goody-goody inanities like multi-faith dialogues and multiculturalism didn’t interest the erstwhile Cardinal Ratzinger. I doubt they will be a driving passion of Pope Benedict XVI. And for good reason too.
Christianity as an organised religion that emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire is essentially a western institution. Its fundamental tenets and its theological underpinnings are located in western civilisation. Liberation theology, American-style evangelism and Christian social activism are newfangled branch lines that bear little relationship to the core identity of the Church. In emphasising the umbilical cord that ties Christianity to the West, the new Pope is undertaking a back-to-basics campaign. He wants the Church to be a moral force for upholding Christian values, by which is meant "western" values.
He doesn’t see Catholicism as a pale imitation of Oxfam and Amnesty International. I really can’t say whether Pope Benedict believes in the validity of Christianity in a non-western context. My own hunch is that he would be inherently more comfortable with those 19th century Anglicans who sought to create good Christians by turning Indians into black Englishmen.
He would be a trifle uneasy with some of his own co-religionists who established Catholic ashrams and conducted artis to Jesus. This is a Pope who knows that Christianity is in crisis in its home turf and that it is his job to put his own house in order first. He is a reformer, not an evangelist. Under him, the relationship of Indian religions with the Roman Catholic Church can assume a more interesting dimension. That is, of course, if the local Catholic Church comprehends what this Pope is all about.
Send in your comments on this article to samachareditor@sify.com
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