One of Those People
Abbey Church, Holy Spirit Monastery, Conyers, GA
Credit: John French via Pixabay
On my About Page and in the biography I just posted, I mention that Catholicism has always been a part of my life, even if there were periods when I wasn’t actively practicing. For some reason, this often tends to startle the friends I’ve made through school and in fandom. The most likely reason is because I don’t usually wear any “Catholic bling” and I’m not the kind of person to drop a mention about my faith into every conversation. In addition, I’m not politically conservative and I don’t have a dozen children. How on earth could I be one of those people and what happened to make me change?
If by “one of those people,” you mean a Catholic, the truth is that I haven’t changed; I’ve always been this way. What I haven’t done, and still don’t do, is feel the need to pray on street corners (cf. Mt. 6:5) by explicitly bringing God and Jesus into every conversation. The way I see it, if you can’t tell I’m Catholic from the way I act, you’re not likely to be convinced by what I say. Further, while there’s enough truth in stereotypes for them to be real, that doesn’t mean that they’re universal; or, in other words, being Catholic doesn’t limit me to a particular lifestyle or political slant.
But make no mistake: my Catholic faith is deeply entrenched. In fact, I consider it as much a culture and a worldview as much as I do a faith. Even when I’ve actively distanced myself from the Church, I still tended to see people as generally good, but corrupted so that they can’t access their true selves. I’ve believed in hard work, but I’ve never bought into the work ethic that pervades American culture; rather I’ve tended to keep work in its proper place and balance. Finally, because I’ve never accepted that there’s any conflict between science and religion, I’ve never believed that there’s any real difference between the natural and the supernatural; their differences are only matters of degree.
These things sound philosophical and even metaphysical; and on many levels, they are. But they’re still very real and have made a difference in my approach. Further, because I believe that God can see me no matter whether I hide or not (cf. Mt. 6:6-8), I don’t have a particular need to prove my faith to others. It exists, it’s there, and what I do is often far more important than what I say anyway. The question that I’m ultimately trying to answer isn’t whether I have faith; it’s whether I’m living in accordance with it.
My worldview stands in contrast to traditional Protestant ideas that see people as wicked and lost, and therefore in need of salvation. The most extreme example of this idea is, of course, Calvinism, but even non-Calvinists are prone to quoting Rom. 3:10-12 as evidence that people, as a rule, are not good. I’ve always seen this assertion as taken out of context; Paul is indicating that no human being is free from the burden of sin, not that human beings are intrinsically wicked. In fact, that idea, if taken out to its logical conclusion, dictates that God intentionally and deliberately created something evil.
The God I worship wouldn’t do that; everything he creates is good. Rather, I see the situation as one where what is good has been corrupted by the effects of sin. From that standpoint, the task of freeing yourself (and others) from that sinful state is about finding and embracing your true self, not about changing yourself away from being intrinsically bad. It’s a far more positive outlook, and in many ways, despite my frequent cynicism, it makes me an optimist at heart.
Another manifestation of my Catholic worldview is that I’ve never subscribed to the so-called “Protestant work ethic,” which in my mind, is rooted in the mistaken idea that joy and happiness are sinful. This mistake follows logically from the idea that human beings, at their core, are rotten at wicked. Therefore, anything that the human prefers and likes is obviously (and automatically) something that runs contrary to God’s will. This overly pessimistic worldview is at least part of what has led to work becoming far too important to American society.
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying that work isn’t important. Rather the reverse; work is very important. However, I don’t see it as important in and of itself. Instead, I see work as a potential means of glorifying God and bringing about his Kingdom on earth. This more nuanced worldview means that I put work in the context of life, rather than turning my life into my work. Insisting on a work/life balance has cost me significantly in terms of career opportunities, but I’m much more of a whole and fulfilled person this way.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly to those friends who know me either from school or from fandom, my view of faith and the world doesn’t exclude the idea of science. Instead, it in fact requires it; if creation is truly something that we have as a result of God’s action, then we’re almost commanded to explore and understand it, because that leads us toward a further understanding of human beings and humanity as a whole. This is an example of what many people call the “Catholic and,” which stands in contrast to the “Protestant or.” I truly cannot understand the idea of faith and science even being in conflict.
It’s true that sometimes the facts that come from science seem to contradict the truths that come from faith. To answer this, I would point out that facts and truth aren’t always the same; and that while science can explain “how,” only faith can explain “why.” On the other hand, using science to explain “why” leads to a nihilistic and self-destructive attitude; and using faith to explain “how” is simply nonsensical. God created the limits of science; he isn’t bound by them. In other words, if there seems to be a contradiction, it’s only because our current understanding of something is incomplete - and the best way to resolve a contradiction is to investigate the situation further.
Faith and reason aren’t contradictory; they’re complementary. In addition, there really isn’t any cut-and-dried formula for defining a “good Catholic.” Historically, Catholicism has been large enough to include people as varied as Thomas More, Dorothy Day, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joan of Arc and even a man named Jean Picard. In a tent that large, there’s more than enough room for me; and it’s a place where I’ve always lived. No, it hasn’t always been comfortable, but it has always been a part of my life and at this point I’m far too entrenched in my faith to believe that will ever change.
Originally posted at https://collingwest.blog/2021/one-of-those-people/.