Saturday, May 5, 2012

Objective vs. Altruistic Morality

                I wish to expound upon an idea I touched upon in my last blog post “It’s not natural.”  I tried to illustrate that an objective morality which would allow one to find no fault in homosexuality would also leave the door wide open to the genetic or hormone therapies one would use to cure homosexuality.  Genetic engineering is always a gravely immoral act; the ends never justify the means. This is not to say that homosexuals are free of their responsibility not to act upon their disordered understanding of human sexuality.  Disordered sexuality is everywhere from pornography to adultery.  It is not as if the homosexual’s disordered appreciation of sex is graver than a husband who looks at porn; although the homosexual will not ever have the option of a fruitful sexual union leading to the unavoidable usage of one's partner as a sexual object with every single sexual act, whereas the husband looking at porn still has the option of repenting and having a natural and ordered relationship with his wife.  It is moreover that homosexuals are trying to compromise the institution of marriage.  That moves the arena from the personal battle to the social.   
                Objectivism is on one end of the moral theory scale as it rejects altruism in favor of rational self-interest.  What this means in the actual world is that those with the power to assert their self-interest will prevail.  If the gay lobby is stronger than the university research lobby then the homosexuals are golden; but if they aren’t then the babies are getting some hormones, right into the anterior hypothalamus.  This is not morality it is a pissing contest. 
To illustrate I would refer to the recent exchange between Dan Savage and the students of the National High School Journalism Conference.  Dan Savage stated, “We can learn to ignore the bullsh--in the bible about gay people- the same way we have learned to ignore the bullsh-- in the bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation.”  When more than 100 students walked out of the auditorium in protest he called them, “pansy-a--ed.”  Did I mention he was speaking out against bullying?  See how fickle objectivism is?  The ends justify the means, or the meanness.  
                What altruism brings is not only objective truth, as the one truth lies outside oneself or one situation; but the promise of checking power in favor of that objective truth, actually saving us from ourselves as we are eventually crushed by the objectivism we use to crush others.  So it is not moral to “fix” homosexuals but it is moral to witness to them how we carry our crosses, which we all have to.
                The crosses we carry are lessons in holiness.  We learn self discipline, we learn to sacrifice, and thus we learn to love.  True love is not a feeling but every action in our lives directed at expressing the reality of that feeling.  Otherwise the hormones and neurotransmitters evaporate without moving us into deeper and longer lasting hormones and neurotransmitters.
                We witness in private but in the public square we defend the Church and her teaching, especially as it pertains to marriage and abortion.  We must try to keep our faith whole and intact; because as the Catholic Church may prescribe individual self mastery, the objectivist prescribes extreme and punitive reprisals against “bigoted” theological teaching.
                To update the last blog Civil Unions will pass the Colorado House of Representatives, the Governor will sign it and it will become law in Colorado.  God bless this state and our country, please pray for us.  
 I must add, just to clarify, the Church is not bigoted and neither should we be.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “2358- The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial.  They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.  Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.  These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359- Homosexual persons are called to chastity.  By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.”
                The conversion of sinners and the perfection of the faithful are not won without the long suffering of the faithful.  Simply to shout down the homosexual lifestyle is to convert sinners to sin and highlight our own faults as Christians.  We must firmly resolve to be prayerful and closer to the sacraments than ever before for the sake of society’s conversion.  God’s will be done; He has already won through his cross and resurrection.  Let us resolve to be faithful witnesses of that truth. 

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