Preface:
Before Judge Bork's conversion to the Catholic Church, he wrote a book entitled, Slouching Towards Gommorah. Published in 1996, this book prove to be at least a decade ahead of its time. As a side note, you might recall that he was nominated to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice by President Reagan in the late eighties. However, Senator Ted Kennedy was successful in making a case against his nomination. According to Kennedy, Robert Bork was a threat to the liberal values. In 2001, I had the privilege of meeting Justice Bork in Washington D.C. at a George Weigel speech.
At any rate, in the 14th chapter called Trouble in Religion he discusses the close relationship between religion and morality. I provided a few excerpts from his book that are worth considering for today's discussion about America's future:
Morality without religion?
"If morality can be created and maintained independently of religion, if it is prior to religion, then the decline of religion need not be a matter of overwhelming concern; religion becomes a matter of individual salvation after death, of overwhelming importance to the individual, but of little social concern. Yet, it is observable that religion and morality have declined together."
Comment: Between 1962-63, the U.S. government forbade prayer and reading the bible in public schools. Unfortunately, there was not much of an outcry by Americans because the Christian religion, during the previous three decades, had enjoyed considerable growth. Perhaps, they counted it as a minor setback. In any case, the most pressing concerns teachers had went from students gum chewing, running in the halls and talking in class in 1960's, to drug use, sexual harassment and even gun shootings in the 1990's. In light of the social developments which occurred throughout history, this change in the school environment is remarkable. Few (even Christians) connect the dots. But if prayer is truly a spiritual activity which brings about good results, like many believe, then its absence must be counted as a negative. Perhaps this is why, unlike in previous decades, school administrations require security or police to patrol their hallways.
Virtuous atheists?
"We all know persons without religious belief who nevertheless display all the virtues we associate with religious teaching. That might seem to suggest that religion is unnecessary to morality; but the counter argument is that such people are living on the moral capital of prior religious generations."
Comment: Countless philosophers and politicians in the 1700's and 1800's believed that reason alone or even the goodness of human nature alone was sufficient in maintaining a civil and virtuous society. What they didn't factor in is that the social and political experiences they relied upon had rested on generations of Christian capital; that is, the civil and virtuous society they were surrounded by had been put in place by centuries of the preaching of the Gospel and the sanctification of souls. Before Christianity, the continent of Europe was far from being civilized. This is true even for highest form of pagan civilizations of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire which followed.
Keep in mind that it is easy for a child to brag about the nice house he lives in. But in reality, everything he enjoys is the result of his parents hard work.
American Voters: A problem
"While most people claim to be religious, most are also not comfortable with those whose faith is strong enough to affect their public behavior."
Comment: Christopher Dawson once noted in the 1930's that it is not the anti-religious which poses the greatest threat to Christians, but it is the subreligious. The subreligious are those who have some affection for the church they were raised in; as a married couple, they may have been married in their church; and they might have had their kids receive the Sacraments and catechesis there too; nevertheless, they settle for half measures or they completely omit a faith-life during the week. What is more, they call those who take their faith seriously "fanatics" and "extremists." These are people who Christian in outward form only. But when compared to the non-religious or even the anti-religious of the world, there is not that much difference in terms of their values and behavior.
What was said by Bishop Fulton Sheen in 1948 can be more fittingly applied to Christians of today:
"Our Lord intended that His followers should be different in spirit from those who were not His followers. 'I have taken you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.' (John 15:19) Though this is the Divine Intent, it is unfortunately true that the line of demarcation between the followers of Christ and those who are not is often blotted out. Instead of black and white, there is only a blur.
Mediocrity and compromise characterize the lives of many Christians. Many read the same novels as modern pagans, educate their children in the same godless way, listen to the same commentators who have no other standard than judging today by yesterday and tomorrow by today, allow pagan practices such as divorce and remarriage to creep into the family…There is no longer any conflict and opposition which is supposed to characterize us. We are influencing the world less than the world is influencing us. "
