Many people believe that Catholicism, because it is a dogmatic religion, stifles free thought and free speech. “How nice for you,” some will say to a Catholic convert, “Now that you’re a Catholic, you won’t have to think anymore.” Or, “It must be nice to be a Catholic and have such ‘certainty.’” This is said with a snuffling, cynical laugh because by ‘certainty’ they often mean that one has become a mindless robot—a Kool Aid drinking cult member following the demands of his leader in white, without thinking.
Another jab Catholic converts often hear is, “Of course there are some folks who need that kind of certainty.” The subtext here is, “You’re not really smart enough to think things through for yourself, and you are probably emotionally and socially insecure and immature so you need to belong to a mutual self-love group which offers its members certainty in all things.”
Like any criticism leveled against the Church, this one is partially true. There certainly are cults that offer their members mind-numbing ‘certainty’. There are emotionally insecure and immature people who need to belong to such cults. We have to admit that there are some Catholics like that, and that there are, sadly, some Catholic sub-groups, religious orders, and movements in which members have sometimes behaved like this.
Another jab Catholic converts often hear is, “Of course there are some folks who need that kind of certainty.” The subtext here is, “You’re not really smart enough to think things through for yourself, and you are probably emotionally and socially insecure and immature so you need to belong to a mutual self-love group which offers its members certainty in all things.”
Like any criticism leveled against the Church, this one is partially true. There certainly are cults that offer their members mind-numbing ‘certainty’. There are emotionally insecure and immature people who need to belong to such cults. We have to admit that there are some Catholics like that, and that there are, sadly, some Catholic sub-groups, religious orders, and movements in which members have sometimes behaved like this.
strangenotions was an interesting web site until they started banning non religious for inappropriate comments. I was told by a religious poster there that I was full of crap (not the word used) and nary a reprimand, I quoted Lincoln "If you call a tail a leg, a dog still only has four legs" in objection to some semantic antics (switching between various types of cause as used by Aristotle) and was told that was my final warning. At that about 10 non believers who had been posting there left and never returned.
ReplyDeleteI've posted a few times on Fr. Longnecker's site and find him brusque and rather free with his condemnations. He is also one of those Catholics, IMO, who was more comfortable with the emphasis of Pope Benedict rather than Pope Francis. Except that he's married I would have thought he might make another jump, this time to SSPX.
Back to the subject, becoming Catholic obviously doesn't mean you get to stop thinking, rather it means you have to stop dissenting.