Reflections on Turning 22 Years Old

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m 22 years old today. It doesn’t feel as significant as my 21st birthday, since that was a legal milestone, but each passing birthday has its own importance. It reminds me of how much I’ve accomplished, and that what I’ve managed to see and do in 22 years is only a small part of what will (hopefully) be many more years to come. I’m now a college graduate heading into graduate school, out and proud and still going strong. I have overcome numerous obstacles, witnessed history on several occasions and grown in knowledge and experience. I look back and think what a silly, naive child I was at one time not so long ago. I’m sure in another 22 years I’ll look back and say the same about myself as I am right now! God has blessed me throughout my life, and I pray that I He will continue to do so. I look forward to the days ahead as I take on new tasks and begin new journeys, entrusting myself to the mercy and care of God.

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A Critique of Secular Humanism

It’s time for another paper that I wrote when I was a freshman in college. This is about secularism and its pros and cons. In skimming over”A Secular Humanist Declaration” I wasn’t surprised by what I saw since I know the basic tenants of secularism anyway. I will first discuss what I agree with and why, and then what I disagree with and why.

I think that the secular humanists are definitely on to something when they describe the deleterious effects of pathological religion on our world. Fundamentalism is usually a bad thing, regardless of what religion one is dealing with, and I would certainly join in with secular humanists in condemning such destructive ideologies.

I also strongly support the secular humanist position that advocates for democracy as the only acceptable human ideal. Totalitarian governments are inherently detrimental to their own people, and are hotbeds for terrorists who thrive on the climate of fear and hatred that these governments encourage. Secular humanists are right to claim that it is up to ordinary people, and not an elite group, to determine their own destiny. I would diverge here by adding that, for my own life decisions at least, God’s guidance should be added in, but then I know that each of us will come to different conclusions as to what God wants! I can only speak for myself. Although they do not explicitly state it, I think part of the secular humanist agenda is to avoid extremes in life. I try to do the same, realizing that humans are always better off spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced.

My disagreements with secular humanism, however, cannot be underemphasized. This worldview places so much stress on individual rights and liberties, but does agree with certain restrictions as appropriate. The problem is that it is not specified as to how much we should restrict certain rights. What would secular humanists say to that? I can find no answer. It says that we can express our beliefs freely even if they are unpopular. Perhaps secular humanists should ask the Jews who were imprisoned in Hitler’s concentration camps what they thought of Hitler’s right to “free speech.” Or perhaps they could ask Rwandan Tutsis if their killers had the “freedom of speech” to broadcast their names and locations via radio so that they could be located and killed more easily. Such speech may be unpopular, but we have to tolerate it, according to secular humanism. I reject this. As far as I’m concerned, if the speech calls for unjustified violence, then it’s out. I think the US Supreme Court’s “clear and present danger” doctrine of free speech is the best expression of my personal thoughts on the limits of free expression.

There is also a discussion of the “separation of church and state.” According to the US Constitution, there is actually no such thing in a broad sense. The Constitution simply states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” I don’t see anything in there that says that public schools can’t allow public prayers, or that city halls can’t display Christmas trees or mangers. All I can see in this is that the legislative branch of our government cannot make a law regarding the establishment a particular religion, and that the American people cannot be denied the right to practice any religion, or none at all. Let’s not stretch it past the simple meaning.

Next, I don’t like the lack of limits on technology. I think that there is a real danger in eventually getting to a point where humanity will be playing God, if we aren’t doing so already. One might make the argument that we are playing God with cloning and unrestricted abortion. All I can say is that we had better tread lightly. If we knock on the Devil’s door, eventually someone will answer.

Finally, I cannot agree with the rejection of the divine. The suggestion that there is nothing divine or that it has no relevance is something that I disagree with. Certainly, we are all free to believe what we want. If one does not believe in a supreme being, then so be it. I cannot force anyone to believe in my God. I don’t worship a deity that forces people to believe and to worship. Those of other religions, atheists, agnostics and the non-religious have a right to exist and are entitled to the same respect and care that we are all entitled to, and I cannot judge their consciences. I have no right to. I can only assert my own belief in a loving, benevolent, God who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe in what Jesus taught and what He did for the short time that He was with us, and one of the central things that He taught was that all of God’s commandments for us can be summed up in love, pure and simple. It is that love that I think will best serve a world desperately in need of it.

Copyright © 2009 neverwalkaway.wordpress.com. All Rights Reserved.

Of High School Visits and Long Conversations

On Monday, June 8th, I was on my way back home from running a few errands when I decided to drop by my old high school to pay a visit to a few teachers. I made my way down to one of the classrooms, noticing how much had changed in the 4 years since I had walked those same halls. I reached one of the classrooms where I had social studies classes in my freshman year, which was now being supervised by my former Catholic Church history and Catholic morality teacher. I’ll refer to her as Dr. L. She’s in her 50s and has a Th.D. in Catholic theology, and was a nun during the tumultuous aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. She later left in order to marry, and currently teaches religious history, Catholic morality and a few other religion classes at my old high school. It was always fascinating to speak to someone with the unique perspective that this teacher of mine had.
I walked into the room and saw her seated behind her desk, grading her papers. A few other students were chatting in the room, working on extra credit projects perhaps. Either way, she happily greeted me and beckoned me to sit down. She asked me about my plans for the future, and I told her of my plans to go onto graduate school and where I was working over the summer. After asking her about her own life, which hadn’t changed a whole lot, I then asked if I could call upon her theological knowledge and personal experience. Please bear in mind that I’ll put this in interview format, since it’ll probably be easier to comprehend that way. I discussed several topics with her.

Me: I recently did a blog entry about the unusual gap between conservative young Catholic priests in America and more liberal young Catholic laity. Do you see the same thing?
Dr. L: Oh yes absolutely. They want to bring back the Latin mass, which few people will understand, so that’s a problem.
Me: I’m sure you’re right about that, but I’m referring to more conservative attitudes toward hot-button moral issues like homosexuality.
Dr. L: Well it’s definitely that too, but what’s really bizarre is that so many of the younger priests are gay, and they don’t always bother to hide it that well. I was on a bus taking some young priests down to see Pope Benedict XVI speak when he first came to America after he became pope. They certainly acted gay, but were still pretty hard-line on those issues. It’s a very strange thing, like a sort of cognitive dissonance.
Me: What are your own thoughts about that?
Dr. L: Well, I don’t really agree with the Church teaching on that particular issue. It also ties into birth control and masturbation. The Church teaching on these issues has its origin in a theory that male sperm contained an entire person, so if you did anything non-procreative, you were killing children! Science has now taught us better, but the Church has not caught up. Plus, with homosexuality specifically, I’ve had personal experience. I worked with AIDS patients at one time, and I remember seeing their partners coming to care for them, with some of the couples having been together for over 20 years. I think people are born that way.
Me: Well, the Church would say that while the homosexual orientation isn’t a sin, acting on it is. Where does that leave a gay Catholic?
Dr. L: Officially, a gay Catholic would have no other choice but to be celibate. But it’s up to each person to examine his/her own conscience, even if that conscience contradicts the official teaching. I have no right to judge, and I tell my students the same.
Me: Let’s just briefly go back to the shift toward clerical conservatism I described earlier. It seems incomprehensible in the wake of the liberalizing effect of Vatican II. How do you make sense of it?
Dr. L: Sometimes you have to take two steps forward and one backward. That’s how I see it. Ultimately, God will guide the Church in whatever direction He sees fit. That also applies to teachings.
Me: I read that there was a pope who didn’t see contraception as a major sin, if a sin at all. I’m referring to Pope John Paul the First, a.k.a. Albino Cardinal Luciani.
Dr. L: Yes indeed. He was taken down pretty fast.
Me: There was a lot of speculation about his death, since he died after only 33 days in office and was not given autopsy, despite the fact that a previous pope was in fact given an autopsy. Are you suggesting he was murdered?
Dr. L: That’s what a lot of people thought, and I’m inclined to think the same. I find the whole situation to have been incredibly suspicious.
I WILL DO A FUTURE BLOG ENTRY ON THE TOPIC OF JOHN PAUL I AND HIS MYSTERIOUS DEATH
Me: What has the situation been like for gay students here at school since I left?
Dr. L: Being an all-boys Catholic school with a mandatory Junior ROTC military program, we both know that it isn’t as easy for gay students here as it would be in a public school. But since you graduated from here, there have been a handful of students that have come out of the closet and are open about themselves. They take heat for it, and I try my best to put a stop to any kind of mistreatment whenever I find out about it.
Me: Well, the fact that they’re out is a huge improvement from when I was here four years ago. It would’ve been unthinkable then.
Dr. L: I know. You guys were forced to conform in order to survive here.
Me: Were you surprised when you found out I was gay (I told her at another point)?
Dr. L: No not at all. I was a counselor. I know people.
Me: I was a pretty rigid, hard-line guy
Dr. L: I know. You guys were forced to conform in order to survive here.
Me: Were you surprised when you found out I was gay (I told her at another point)?
Dr. L: No not at all. I was a counselor. I know people.
Me: I was a pretty rigid, hard-line guy myself when I was here, as you no doubt remember. As I’ve explained to you, I’ve changed a lot since then.
Dr. L: I’m not that surprised, since I’ve seen the same thing in other students. Also, you were starting to emerge from your shell in your junior year. You were opening up slowly but surely.
Me: Well, maybe that’s the way it happens with some students.
Dr. L: Yes I think so too.

I had to leave after a while, but I promised to keep in touch with Dr. L. She told me to contact her next month, since she was going to be in the hospital for a while. I pray for Dr. L, that she may recover, and that more students may be able to have teachers like her.

Copyright © 2009 neverwalkaway.wordpress.com. All Rights Reserved.

An Upstate Sunset

Earlier this evening I went up to a local field to watch the sunset, which I sometimes do on spring and summer evenings. It’s very relaxing and peaceful to just sit back and watch the world go by sometimes. So often we’re in such a hurry that we never take time to appreciate these things. I sat in my car and watched the sun slowly descending over the horizon, and as I did, something to the right of me caught my eye. About 100 ft away there was a playground, which also sat on the field. I saw two guys who looked slightly younger than me sitting on top of a jungle gym. At first, this didn’t strike me as being anything unusual. I find that I’m typically not the only one who comes up to watch the sunsets at this spot. Other guys and girls my age, especially couples, do the same. Just as I was about to turn away, the two guys turned to each other and kissed passionately. I was stunned, not because I have any problem with public displays of affection (within reason), but because this was a rural area in upstate New York, about a mile from my house. I had never seen a same-sex couple anywhere outside of Albany, let alone one that was open about being who they were. Both were probably aware that I was there, since they weren’t far from where I was parked. Despite the fact that my neighborhood is probably a “suburban” area, it’s right on the edge of an old rural farming district. I grew up attending schools in what were undoubtedly rural areas. A lot of my classmates were from farming families that go back several generations. This field was the last place I would expect to see a same-sex couple, but maybe I haven’t given rural upstate New York enough credit. I have never encountered any homophobia in my home area, except for the occasional name-calling, and certainly never any violence toward minorities of any kind. Maybe I shouldn’t have been that shocked. Our society has come a long way, after all. Even if those two guys didn’t know that I was there, I still feel that what I saw had a deeper significance. How many same-sex couples would’ve dared to do the same, even if they thought they were alone, ten or twenty years ago? How many would be affectionate in a public place where they could easily have been watched (there is a sign saying that the playground is videotaped, and it is a popular area)? But these two didn’t seem to care at all. They were head over heels in love, holding hands as they left the playground, nodding at me as passed within 10 ft of me and walked onto the road, still hand in hand. Times have definitely changed, and for the first time, I saw concrete proof of that in my own backyard.

I think that sunset was probably the best one I’ve seen in a long time.

Copyright © 2009 neverwalkaway.wordpress.com. All Rights Reserved.

The Murder of Dr. George Tiller

As you are no doubt aware, I’ve been posting some of my old college reports online, mostly to show others the work I’ve done. I wish to move forward from the three deaths that weighed on my mind over the past month or so, and so I will close that chapter with my sincere hopes that those three souls will find peace in God.

Unfortunately, I’ve learned that a prominent abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller, was murdered in his church. As you are no doubt aware, I am strongly opposed to abortion under most circumstances (I make exceptions for rape, incest, pedophilia and health-related reasons), and especially late-term abortions, which Dr. Tiller performed. However, it is the height of hypocrisy to claim that one is “pro-life” and then turn around and kill someone. It doesn’t work that way. When it comes to being pro-life, as far as I am concerned, one must be consistent, and that concern for life must include even those that we personally dislike. That’s the same reason I’m also very much against the death penalty and torture. It sounds kind of odd from a secular perspective, doesn’t it? Being pro-life is traditionally considered a “conservative” value while being against the death penalty is traditionally considered a “liberal” position, but there is an underlying unity to both. A fundamental respect for all life, from start (which for me is conception) to finish, no matter how evil a person may be, is the key for my own personal worldview. This was promoted by the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, who was probably one of the better cardinals in the Catholic hierarchy.

With all of this being said, it is not up to me to judge Dr. Tiller’s soul. I absolutely condemn this disgusting act of violence. I pray for him and his family and friends, and that whoever committed this despicable act will be quickly brought to justice.

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