Cartoon by Don Addis (1935-2009),
publication date unknown, click to enlarge.
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Was religion invented to justify war? Well, if religion was invented to justify war, then Jesus of Nazareth was not a very religious person, because his known teachings (and actions!) cannot be more opposed to war and violence of any kind. Christians have often twisted his words to justify all manner of violence -- the crusades, the inquisition, religious wars, slavery -- but anyone who reads the gospels with an open mind will find appeals to peace with love and justice for all, without exceptions.
So the Christian faith is not the problem. Patriarchal religiosity is the problem. In today's world, nowhere is this problem more evident that in the persisting patriarchal ideology of domination -- of women by men, of nature by humans, and every other conceivable form of supremacy of "one" over "the other." Nowadays, some Christians advocate frugality and fraternity, but excluding women from roles of religious authority persists as the most universal (all men included, all women excluded) manifestation of patriarchal religiosity. Consider, for example, canon 1024 of the Roman Catholic Church:
"A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly."
Why only "baptized male"? Why not "baptized person"? This comes from the ancient misconception about women being "defective males" (Aristotle, Aquinas). But this is not natural law, and given that the patriarchal culture is a significant (the most significant?) driver of social and ecological injustice, preaching more frugality and more fraternity, while worshipping a male God and excluding women from ordination, is hardly credible, let alone appealing, to most people; and this includes most women -- because the toxic patriarchal mindset poisons all human minds and all human relations. Reasoning about this subject matter does not seem to be helpful, because it is a visceral issue. Subtle (and not so subtle) rationalizations are used to distract from simple truths that any Christian can understand, such as the following:
Summary Points for Meditation on the Ordination of Women
Christian readers (especially, Catholics) are invited to ruminate about each of these 40 points and see if they find anything that is heretical or contrary to the Christian faith. If not, why keep looking for abstract excuses to exclude women from ordination? Dismantling patriarchal religiosity is crucial for dealing with the undeniable reality of overpopulation and overconsumption that is degrading the entire biosphere that provides our sustenance. As Greta Thunberg has pointed out, "while we can fool others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics."
All technologies are ways of transforming energy from one form to another, so investing trillions to search for technical miracles is an exercise in futility. The sobering reality is that fossil fuels are not replaceable to sustain current levels of industrial activity. Solar and wind are renewable, but solar panels and wind mills are not renewable. And burning fossil fuels pollutes. Humans need food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe. When the food, water, and air become toxic due to pollution, then what? It is time to let go of patriarchal delusions of grandeur and urgently start fostering integral frugality (including responsible parenthood), integral fraternity (including gender equality), and more natural lifestyles and institutional structures in harmony with the entire community of creation.
Hierarchy is fine, but patriarchy stinks.
Hierarchy is natural. Patriarchy is unnatural, ideological, exclusivist, and harmful. And patriarchal religiosity exacerbates the human propensity to fantasies of omnipotence, is harmful to integral human development, and makes attaining an integral ecology practically impossible. Financial investment is not the cure. Greenwashing is not the cure. Fighting climate change may be necessary, but is not sufficient to resolve issues of social and ecological justice on the ground. Space exploration is an insane waste of time and energy, because we know that only our planet has a biosphere that can sustain life.
Nature is innocent. Nature is not the enemy. Social injustice and ecological degradation are tightly coupled cultural issues. If humans invented the patriarchal culture, humans can evolve a new culture consistent with biophysical realities rather than abstract ideologies.
"God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives." God is Love. God is Mercy, not a "father" in the human sense of the term. God created us free and respects our freedom, a freedom that enables us to freely sacrifice for others, as Jesus did.
At this point in human history, patriarchal religiosity is Enemy #1.
New Hope: The Laudato Si' Action Platform
Pope Francis recently announced the Laudato Si' Action Platform, a seven year program pursuant to fostering cultural change for integral human development and an integral ecology. He poses a fundamental question: 'What world will we leave our children?' He offers
a good definition of sustainability: "From God's hands we have received a garden, we cannot leave a desert to our children."
The stated goals of the program are the following:
1. Response to the Cry of the Earth (greater use of clean renewable energy and reducing fossil fuels in order to achieve carbon neutrality, efforts to protect and promote biodiversity, guaranteeing access to
clean water for all, etc.)
2. Response to the Cry of the Poor (defence of human life from conception to death and all forms of life on Earth, with special attention to vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, migrants, children at risk through slavery, etc.)
3. Ecological Economics (sustainable production, fair-trade, ethical consumption, ethical investments, divestment from fossil fuels and any economic activity harmful to the planet and the people,
investment in renewable energy, etc.)
4. Adoption of Simple Lifestyles (sobriety in the use of resources and energy, avoid single-use plastic, adopt a more plant-based diet and reduce meat consumption, greater use of public transport and
avoid polluting modes of transportation, etc.)
5. Ecological Education (re-think and re-design educational curricula and educational institution reform in the spirit of integral ecology to create ecological awareness and action, promoting the ecological
vocation of young people, teachers and leaders of education etc.)
6. Ecological Spirituality (recover a religious vision of God’s creation, encourage greater contact with the natural world in a spirit of wonder, praise, joy and gratitude, promote creation-centred liturgical celebrations, develop ecological catechesis, prayer, retreats, formation, etc.)
7. Emphasis on Community involvement and participatory action to care for creation at the local, regional, national and international levels (promote advocacy and people’s campaigns, encourage rootedness in local territory and neighbourhood ecosystems, etc.)
It is an admirable initiative. However, the patriarchal mindset that the church exemplifies is precisely the one that has been converting the garden into a desert. Words are cheap. Can the church preach by example? Francis has also announced a 2021-2023 synodal process of consultation with all the faithful on issues of church reform. Hierarchy is fine, but patriarchy stinks. Can the church reform their own hierarchical structure to include women in the ministerial priesthood? In the following months, it will be opportune to develop a critique of Laudato Si' and Fratelli Tutti as they pertain to issues of human sexuality that have a significant impact on human ecology.
For a provisional overview of Laudato Si' Goals (LSGs), CLICK HERE.
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