Bottum. Joseph Bottum ...
A conservative Catholic now backs gay marriage. Why? How? Evolved? Huh?
Mr. Bottum’s change of heart is noteworthy. He makes several arguments. The first is pragmatic.
Basic democratic premises like fairness, equal rights and majority rule suggest that the time for same-sex marriage has come, he says. We can agree, Mr. Bottum argues, that Americans are turning in favor of same-sex marriage, and there “is no coherent jurisprudential against it — no principled legal view that can resist it.” Furthermore, the bishops’ campaigns against same-sex marriage “are hurting the church.” Especially for the young, Catholicism is coming to symbolize repression.
So this fight would only be worth fighting, for Catholics, if their theology required such a fight. Mr. Bottum now believes — here’s where the essay will really outrage fellow churchmen — that Catholics are mistaken to think that natural law requires them to oppose same-sex marriage. - NYTimes
It's the second time in a day that I've come across gay rejection of natural law... looks like a trend.
Anyway - there will be more defections, mark my words. It's part of the "gay Christian renaissance". You'll see.
Knows better than Pope Francis.
ReplyDeleteOh, and apparently metaphysical foundations evaporate into thin air when we no longer have a sense of them.
ReplyDeleteSo Bottum is gone Prottie.
It's too bad - but nothing surprises me any longer.
ReplyDeleteThe cafeteria is open!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that it's gone beyond a mere rejection of natural law. Joseph S. O'Leary, S.J. (Joe O'Leary) commenting in the First Things thread on Bottum writes, "But gay love and marriage are quite in accord with natural law; this is what the church’s best ethicists are learning, as well as the rest of us."
ReplyDeleteOh my! It's moving along quite fast now.
DeleteYES. The speed is what worries me the most.
DeleteIt was always a given that once they were in sufficient control that vindictive repression would come, but until recently I thought we would have much more time.
Strangely enough, the sellouts like Bottum are the best protection Catholics have because it make all others look benign.
I saw the article exulting Bottum's "conversion" in this morning's NYT. Never, never underestimate the insidious work of the Devil. Abnormal is the new normal but you are not a Christian if you don't fall in line behind everyone else.
ReplyDeleteIt's all fun and games until someone goes to Hell.
Now, there was one thing Bottum said that resonated with me a bit, and that was his reference to the Church as a repressive entity. I think we have to work harder to get across the message that enslaving one's self to sin is not liberating, it is the worst form of slavery that exists. I sometimes think we have not done enough to persuade people to say yes to Christ as much as we have told them everything they can't or shouldn't do. Competing with the allurements the world offers is not easy but it's not an insurmountable task either. We just have to work harder and a little smarter at it.
Point taken, though we must remember to pray for them first and foremost. From the mouth of Christ, we know that we cannot say "Jesus is Lord" without the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Aquinas and Newman both knew this well too, and they were far more erudite and holy than I will ever be. It is the business of the Holy Spirit to convert. He may work through us, and it is our job not to stand in His way.
DeleteI think we need to pray for them and to live the life of a converted disciple. When asked why we do as we do, we need to be ready to say why. From there, we have to trust in the Holy Spirit.
And I need to do more of that for Mack, Thom, and Michael.
DeleteDo any of these men who write about gay rights and marriage equality and "who you love" and "love makes a family" ever think to walk a mile in my shoes?
ReplyDeleteI'm a mother.
I feel like I'm waiting for men to finish watching a favorite TV show starring their favorite character.
Redefining marriage is the final abandonment of women by men as necessary partners in the human project. It is divorce.
Excellent point Becky! Excellent!
Delete