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This and questions like it are poisoning the well with a liberal assumption.
Under liberalism, religion is, at most, a quality akin to nationality. It is a mode of expressing human nature. It is to be respected, but there are higher goods it must be subordinate to. https://twitter.com/JeffreyASachs/status/1300941841223880705
Under liberalism, religion is, at most, a quality akin to nationality. It is a mode of expressing human nature. It is to be respected, but there are higher goods it must be subordinate to. https://twitter.com/JeffreyASachs/status/1300941841223880705
Under liberalism, Common Goods are limited to procedure for achieving individual goods - democratic elections, freedom of expression, contractual exchanges. There are no substantive Common Goods. Thus religion, a substantive Good, is not promoted as a Common Good.
Integralism does not make this assumption. Firstly, it promotes substantive Common Goods. It recognizes there is a human nature which we all partake in. and the flourishing of that nature, the promotion of substantive Common Goods, is the goal of a society.
Religion, the Catholic Faith, is among (the the highest of!) these Common Goods. The faith is that which perfects man. Conformity to Christ through His Church, a goal offered to all, is the destiny and fulfillment of every man. Take Gaudium et Spes 22 as an encapsulation of this.
Thus the first assumption of the Integralist regime is "As the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier has for us, we offer to all, as we can, the means and fulfillment of their life - to partake in the life of God in His Church, to be One with the Lord."
"Right," responds the Liberal, "But what if I deny that? What if I don't subscribe to that 'theory'? What are you going to do with me?"
Well, what do liberal regimes do with their illiberal citizens? They tolerate them where they can; silence them when they must.
Well, what do liberal regimes do with their illiberal citizens? They tolerate them where they can; silence them when they must.
If a man denounces the liberal regime, but does so only in romantic language, calling for only individual transformation, and is not a threat to the regime's order, the regime tolerates them. Maybe even co-opts them.
See most every conservative thinker for the past 50 years.
See most every conservative thinker for the past 50 years.
If a man calls for overriding the limits of procedural Common Goods, a liberal regime endeavors to use the procedural goods to silence such a one - deplatforming, holding more elections, political denunciation.
Threats to liberal order are not tolerated. They are silenced.
Threats to liberal order are not tolerated. They are silenced.
The integralist regime will act analogously. The Orthodox, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Atheist, and the protestant will be tolerated to the extent they are not threats to the regime.
In so far as they are threats, they will be silenced.
In so far as they are threats, they will be silenced.
Why? Well, they are tolerated because the good-of-all, of conformity to Christ and His Church, are for all. The Integralist regime will tolerate non-threatening non-Catholics because this is an opportunity to dialogue and bring them into the Church - to achieve their fulfillment.
Why silenced? If they are threatening the Integralist regime, they are threatening the good of all, including their own good. The regime must then act to ensure the good of all is not endangered. You silence the threat.
Again, liberals do this too, but for very different ends. E.g. to ensure the primacy of market procedures over a substantive good (markets for an end), monopolistic activity is silenced.
(We're experiencing the inherent self-contradiction in the liberal system right now...)
(We're experiencing the inherent self-contradiction in the liberal system right now...)
Now, let's be honest: the real question being asked is "Will I be allowed to live in a liberal mode in an integralist society?"
Yes and no.
To the extent your views and opinions and actions are not threats to the Integralist regime, you will remain unmolested.
Yes and no.
To the extent your views and opinions and actions are not threats to the Integralist regime, you will remain unmolested.
Participate in politics? To a limited degree.
Liberal regimes seeks to bar illiberal citizens from politics (see the "Not my president" response to the "illiberal" POTUS). Integralist regimes do too. We are just able to be more consistent than liberal regimes on this point.
Liberal regimes seeks to bar illiberal citizens from politics (see the "Not my president" response to the "illiberal" POTUS). Integralist regimes do too. We are just able to be more consistent than liberal regimes on this point.
But if the liberal individual is a threat to the regime, he will be silenced proportionately to the threat and always with the view that he turn from his ways and accept the fulfillment offered him in Christ and His Church.
Liberalism has difficulty confronting integralism, because integralism seeks to bring about substantive Common Goods. Liberalism cannot handle this concept, limiting it's vision of the Common Good to procedure and contract - the means to bringing about purely individual goods.
Liberalism makes no statement about the good of human nature beyond creating the field for each person to define and seek their own flourishing.
Integralism recognizes there is a common human flourishing and seeks to bring that about.
Integralism recognizes there is a common human flourishing and seeks to bring that about.
The integralist cannot assuage the liberal's desire to live as a liberal.
All we can say is that we seek your good, your fulfillment. We seek, by the grace of God, to actualize your self-transcendence, your capacity to partake of the divine. Your ultimate happiness.
All we can say is that we seek your good, your fulfillment. We seek, by the grace of God, to actualize your self-transcendence, your capacity to partake of the divine. Your ultimate happiness.
Deny that, and we will be saddened. We will muddle on, though. The Lord pines for you until the end and thus, so do we.
We pray and live that all may be one in Him.
We pray and live that all may be one in Him.
