- Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil
Brilliantly Presented Falsehoods Can Thrill
Every era produces its own type of fallacies to address the anxieties of the day. During the inter-war period, a number of contradictory philosophies held the world in thraldom. Their message retained a captivating power even after generations, no matter how deceptive it was. Charles Colson tells how Camus and Sartre captured the admiration of people in the American campuses in subsequent generations: life has no intrinsic meaning, no God. Meaning and purpose must be boldly created through the individual’s actions. A person’s experiences, actions and courage alone can make meaning. So let us enjoy life when we can!
Sartre’s thoughts could freeze you to death: humans are “on a shattered and deserted stage, without script, director, prompter, or audience, the actor is free to improvise his own part”. When he said this, he merely mirrored the world scenario of the day under colliding loyalties to capitalism, communism, socialism, Nazism, Fascism, racism, anarchism, nihilism. Proclaimers of the Word remained silent or happy enough with euphemisms. Indeed, as Pope Francis would have cried: “Please, Wake up the world” in such painful circumstances. But we shall succeed to do so only if we come close to realities, reflect with the masses, and take on responsibility.
Be a light to the world Matt 5:14-15. Do good things, let them be seen. Change the world from where you are. It is not that Christian leaders must claim superior wisdom, but must be acquainted with facts, figures, situations, processes, and possibilities. They must search for solutions with the rest of society. They must be bold, remaining always realistic.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had suffered greatly under the Nazis. He sat stunned reading Ps 74:8-10: “They burnt all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. How long O God, is the foe to scoff?” He was reflecting on God’s word in Nazi Germany. Is our situation in India very different? All popular preachers in those days went by the trendy issues of the time. Millions perished under the Nazis.
Values Vanish
Nietzsche’s story of the “death of God” has had many interpretations. What he meant was the “devaluation of all values.” The distinction between right and wrong, justice and injustice was becoming meaningless. There was no objective guide to choose between the belief that humans are created equal and the conviction that the exploiting the weak is the way to the future and ensuring GDP growth for the nation. These are the philosophies that dominate world thought even today.
Nietzsche proposes a solution to God’s death: replace him. “God remains dead…Must not we ourselves become gods simply to seem worthy of it?” Pascal had feared such attitudes. Nietzsche wanted the Christian to get rid of his ‘slave morality’, fear of breaking the Law. He should, on the contrary, create his own laws. Such a Superman alone can exercise his will to power. Reckless elements in society were thrilled with such statements. Gradually they found acceptance in wider and wider circles.
No Rules, No Authority, No Destiny
Reinhold Niebuhr criticised American education in moral relativity and the downgrading of values. James Hitchcock rejected all rules, authority, demands for obedience. In the 1960s there was a call to freedom for sex and drugs, which influenced also literature and art. The rising opinion was: no lasting values. Colson speaks of four decades of erosion of values. Looking back, much longer. Social behaviour amounted to saying, ‘God is dead.’ Respect for other religions came to mean non-religion… lack of respect for Christianity itself.
Ideologically biased media tend to give a lopsided presentation of a situation or an incident. We know from experience how a wrong interpretation of a case of violence can aggravate anger and anxiety, and lead to further violence. Today’s social media tend to aggravate things even further. If Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit turn to spreading “misinformation”, we cannot remain silent. We need to become “gate keepers”, defending helpful norms and becoming guardians of ethical values. Be a light to the world!
Church attendance fell in the West. Value-free society came to mean a liberal, progressive, enlightened outlook. So, there remains nothing objective to guide how to live together. Seeing such aimless developments in the world in the post-War era, Churchill died with the words “There is no hope.”
Here is where the convicting power, transforming power, of the Gospel has to be awakened, not only in the West but the world over, where such anarchy of thoughts, ideologies, interests and convictions has led humanity to a state of helplessness. “Wars proliferate”, violence manifests itself in hundreds of ways, corruption mounts, power dominates, opportunism rules the world: think of Trump, Putin, Xi, Erdogan or Modi. There are no rules, says Trump, only deals!
Be a Light to the World
Be a light to the world Matt 5:14-15. Do good things, let them be seen. Change the world from where you are. It is not that Christian leaders must claim superior wisdom, but must be acquainted with facts, figures, situations, processes, and possibilities. They must search for solutions with the rest of society. They must be bold, remaining always realistic.
Interpreting events and processes is extremely important before launching action. Politically partisan people tend to embellish facts and interpret events according to their own political interests and one-sided views. Emotionally led masses blindly follow leaders who hold out attractive populist programmes and promises before them. Irresponsible newspaper men seek to serve the interests of one group or the other according to their own political or commercial allegiance.
Here is where the convicting power, transforming power, of the Gospel has to be awakened, not only in the West but the world over, where such anarchy of thoughts, ideologies, interests and convictions has led humanity to a state of helplessness. “Wars proliferate”, violence manifests itself in hundreds of ways, corruption mounts, power dominates, opportunism rules the world: think of Trump, Putin, Xi, Erdogan or Modi. There are no rules, says Trump, only deals!
Ideologically biased media tend to give a lopsided presentation of a situation or an incident. We know from experience how a wrong interpretation of a case of violence can aggravate anger and anxiety, and lead to further violence. Today’s social media tend to aggravate things even further. If Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit turn to spreading “misinformation”, we cannot remain silent. We need to become “gate keepers”, defending helpful norms and becoming guardians of ethical values. Be a light to the world!
Rumours that Kill
‘Fake news’ can deceive people, spread hatred, rouse emotions, and plant prejudices. Falsehood reigns. That is what is happening in India and elsewhere today. Those who spread rumours irresponsibly in times of tension become the cause of major tragedies. But this sort of things keeps happening all the time. Spiritually oriented citizens must guide their society.
Hannah Arendt, a Holocaust survivor, establishes beyond doubt how for all mass leaders “contempt of facts is a necessity”. It is the duty of every citizen to remain alert and help others to discern. Her message is a call for responsibility; she claims that it is the passive attitude of citizens that is responsible for all evil in society. We must make our voices heard. For, democracy can survive only if citizens remain well-informed and alert, and the public responsible.
The ideal atmosphere for “public reasoning” that John Rawls (and Amartya Sen) visualizes cannot be taken for granted; it must be created. The right climate for ‘ideal speech’ that Habermas proposed does not prevail today; it must be made to emerge in each context. Spiritually inspired people are best skilled in this art.
God’s Word Challenges, Accuses, Invites Self-criticism, Corrects, Encourages
The challenges before committed citizens and sincere religious believers when engaged in public issues are many: eliciting thought, inviting reflection, taking initiative in leading the analysis forward, being prepared to revise one’s understanding of a situation as it keeps changing, watching out for opportunities for goal-oriented action, bringing ethical and moral considerations to live issues, tapping cultural and human resources for the deepening of thought and the launching of purposeful action, drawing all beneficent forces in the community closer to each other, linking up scattered energies, helping people to put together scarce resources, leading persons and movements to realistic solutions….all this with a human touch and a human heart….this is their mission.
Be a light to the world!
