Augustine and Thomas on Democracy

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Jeff

If the people are mature and serious and diligently guard the common welfare, then it is right to adopt a law by which some people are permitted to appoint for themselves magistrates to administer the republic. However, if the same people, having been depraved little by little, hold a rigged election and entrust the government to dissolute and profligate men, then it is justifiable to deprive such people of the power of conferring public offices and to return to the judgment of a few good men.

Augustine, On Free Will 1, Cited by Thomas Aquinas ST I-II Q.97 art.1

I find this a fascinating passage, first, because Augustine wrote it, and second, because Thomas cites it himself. We often think of these thinkers as opposed to democracy. Yet, here is a radical defense of democracy and a radical critique.

Which, of course, makes itself relevant today. When we have a senator who says our first priority is to make a sitting president a one-term president, then we have indication that he is not looking out for the general welfare and that those who vote for him are not looking out for the general welfare. When we have people who agree with the positions of one candidate more than others but refuse to vote for that candidate because he or she won’t win, then we have a situation in which people are not considering the general welfare. When we have prelates in the church who focus singularly on abortion, then we have a situation in which people are not concerned with the common welfare.

What Augustine and Thomas fail to do here is provide us with a means by which to return our government to a few good men. Perhaps they presumed that a monarch would always exist to make these judgments, but that is not the case. Both believed that anarchy was worse than almost any government, so we have to wonder what they would say today.

What we must prevent, at all costs, is the dissolution of the the US government into a military dictatorship. Unfortunately, the history of democracies and the US similarity to the Roman Empire does not give me much hope unless the US populace stop hating and start loving and begin to build their society once more.

For that, I ask you join me in prayer.

Contraception, Law, and Prudence

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Jeff

Praise Jesus! This article on contraception and religious institutions is awesome. It is not awesome because of its liberal leanings. Nor is it awesome because it supports health care coverage of birth control. The article proves awesome because it shows a truly Catholic and Thomistic response to the recent controversy over Obama requiring health insurance programs to provide coverage for contraceptives even if the programs are for Catholic institutions of a non-religious mission.

In his Treatise on Law Q. 96, art 2, Thomas writes that we cannot make illegal all moral wrongs. Laws must be framed for the person and for the custom of the particular country. Marquette’s policy recognizes that the prescription for a contraceptive may have nothing to do with birth control. Further, Brent King of the Madison diocese notes that the diocese counsels people on avoiding contraceptives but the diocese has no plans to police it. Yes, the diocese shows to its employees that contraceptives per se are wrong, but recognizes that policing the use of contraceptives would violate justice itself.

Thomas also says in Q. 91, art. 4, that human law cannot make every vice illegal.

Because, as Augustine says (De Lib. Arb. i, 5,6), human law cannot punish or forbid all evil deeds: since while aiming at doing away with all evils, it would do away with many good things, and would hinder the advance of the common good, which is necessary for human intercourse.

This point of Augustine AND Thomas speak directly to the issue of health care coverage. To do away with health care coverage because it requires the coverage of contraceptives — which are often prescribed for reasons outside of contraception (acne medication, regulation of hormones, prevention of cancer) — would to harm the common good. Augustine and Thomas would oppose any such harm to the common good and, thus, would oppose the elimination of health care services.

The news media and politicians want us to believe that these issues are black and white. But they are not. Law — moral and human — must be more fluid to account for prudential judgment under an informed conscience.

Uplift Human Personality

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Jeff

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail on April 16th, 1963. It’s a momentous letter that calls on all Christians and all people to end the unjust social structures and practices that kept African-Americans from fully participating in the public realm and living fulfilling lives.

Almost 50 years later, it’s message still rings true. We know that African-Americans fair worse in the United States than do almost all other ethnic groups. We also know that, toward the end of his life, Dr. King turned his attention toward broader social justice issues. He was assassinated in Memphis because he was there to support striking trash collectors.

The Letter from Birmingham Jail remains an important piece for subversive Thomists. Among other things, Dr. King speaks of the natural law. He re-iterates St. Augustine’s famous phrase that “an unjust law is no law at all.” The question arises, “What makes a law just?” Dr. King answers with the most subversive answer of all:

A just law is one that uplifts human personality.

Read those words again: uplifts human personality. St. Thomas states that law is for the perfection of the human person. It’s hard to think of that in relation to Thomas for many, and especially in relation to the Catholic Church and religion in general. But religion is about bringing us closer to God — leading us back to God. What could be more uplifting that that?

Dr. King’s letter, though, is not about simply bringing us back to God. It’s about the obligation that Christians have to change those laws that degrade human personality. It’s about making laws that uplift human personality — that make us better people. Essentially, that is the goal of Catholic Social Justice. It’s the goal of the Occupy movement. Let’s make it our own goal as well.

Human Goodness

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Jeff

My faith in the basic goodness of humanity is often renewed by children — not just my own, although in this case, it was.

MY 11 year old daughter was a little sneaky this year at Christmas time. She had $20 to spend for Christmas. The children passed out their gifts first, and after all of Tesa’s were opened, I realized they did not add up to $20 – yet she had called me and asked for more money. So I was suspicious about what happened to her money. Well, we continued to open presents. I was passing out presents, and I cam across these presents marked “From Santa.” Since I’d wrapped or helped wrapped all the presents, I couldn’t figure out what these were. Then it dawned on me after a minute, that the 11 year old had hidden these presents under the tree with “Santa” on them instead of her name.

The funny thing here was the mix-up: she’d mislabeled her and her mom’s gifts: so the 11 year old opens her present to find a pair of socks — the look on her face was confusion mixed with sadness. Later on, my wife opened her present from Santa to find glowing bouncing balls. Santa got confused.

Of course, we all figured it out in the end; and she did get something for herself from Santa. But that’s not the point — we all have motives for what we do, and the question isn’t whether we gain something or have some reason for what we do. Aristotle and Thomas believed that every act is for some end — something we see as good. Yet, we can still act altruistically when the good we aim at is, not our own, but that of the other. And here, this wonderful thoughtful 11 year old tries to make everyone happy by giving them a present from Santa. I almost cried.

None of which is to say that she doesn’t fight with her sisters or doesn’t have a snarky voice, or anything else. We’re all human, which means we all have faults. The question before us is whether we focus on the faults — as Augustine did — or focus on the goodness, as Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi did.

Christmas time is a good time to remember that it’s better to follow Thomas and Francis. It’s also a time to live out that subversive character of giving to the other.

St. Nicholas and Occupy

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Jeff

Our Novena to St. Nicholas has received some national attention via NCR. I am very happy about this. I want to take this opportunity to point out two things.

First and foremost, St. Nicholas may have been the inspiration of Santa Clause, but it was only in the way that, say, filet mignon is the inspiration for a quarter pounder with chesse. Culture, of course, transforms the original into something that is not quite like it but we pretend it is. Originally, back before capitalism, Santa Clause may have been a symbol for true Christianity and love. Today, he is a tool for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. St. Nicholas, however, stands for and with the poor.

Second, we have to recall at this time that St. Nicholas is not about giving handouts to those who are undeserving. We must model our selves after Nicholas — doing what we can in the situation at hand. We are well to remember this in light of Bishop Lynch’s decision to kill health care for his thousands of employees rather than risk allowing someone to practice contraception which may in some small case lead to an abortion. What would St. Nicholas do in this situation: he would find someone to subvert the system and make sure that everyone receives health coverage while not funding possible abortafacients. How many people seek an abortion out of fear that they cannot afford the health care for themselves while pregnant or their children once born. We have to make sure a no-win situation becomes a win-win situation by undermining the culture that seems to allow us no choice.

If nothing else, we as Catholics must resist the reification of the status quo — that is the true meaning of saintliness, the subversion of the status quo, from St. Nicholas and St. Augustine, to St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assissi, to Dorothy Day and Oscar Romero. It requires sacrifice — but notice that saints always sacrifice themselves and never the other.

Subversive Thomism

Living Justly and Loving Kindness in a World on the Brink of Collapse

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