Posts
Is it possible to have a "Christian State"? Can the State govern according to the Gospel? Can "forgiveness of enemies" be a valid principle of civil order? What do the Fathers say about the relationship of Church and State in regard to capital punishment? Listen HERE
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Well done! (And not just because I agree with you).
Thanks, Father. The real hot button stuff is yet to come, stay tuned.
El Negro Cuerpo...if you read these comments email me about your blog at stevenpaul4@cox.net There's something wrong with your comment setup I think. Thanks.
Interesting. My thought based on my reading of Romans 13 (when a CoC guy) was that the state had a right to use 'the sword' - i.e, coercion, violence, but was not required to.
What concerns me is the notion of removing the state's right to use these means; But then, I think there is also a mistaken conflation of nations with persons (I think Owen talked about the mistaken notion of 'corporate persons') and implying that all responsibilities of a person apply to a state, or sometimes the other way around (in forms of radical libertarianism/anarcho-capitalism.)
Anyway, I know that pacifism has a strong ideological pull for those entering deeper who are ideological. This I think relates to the insufficiency of ideology in general; on a personal level I should be pacifistic; i.e. not using violence or coercion to defend my person, but I may enter a gray area for my family (certainly!) and my position in regards to the state is that it has the right to use coercion and violence - and that it should use them as Paul says, to be a terror to evil and a boon to the good.
This position is ideologically inconsistent - since it is not based on abstractions but rather on concrete realities.
Nonetheless, thank you for the podcast. I definitely learned a few things (and like Fr. I'm not just saying this because I agree.)
Post a Comment