You can learn some amazing things on the internet,
particularly if you frequent the fever swamps
of Twitter or Reddit or, God forbid,
the comments section of the New York Times.
For example, I have learned that there are certain people
that you are allowed to hate,
though who those people are depends on your tribe.
In certain circles, you are allowed to hate those
who like the music of the St. Louis Jesuits,
or those who like the old Latin Mass.
You are allowed to hate
those who say you have a moral obligation
to get vaccinated against Covid-19,
or those who are hesitant about getting vaccinated.
You are allowed to hate
those who hold the Church’s traditional view on human sexuality,
or those who are gay or lesbian or transgender,
those who say that black lives matter,
or those who say that all lives matter,
those who believe that President Biden won a free and fair election,
or those who believe that the last election was stolen.
particularly if you frequent the fever swamps
of Twitter or Reddit or, God forbid,
the comments section of the New York Times.
For example, I have learned that there are certain people
that you are allowed to hate,
though who those people are depends on your tribe.
In certain circles, you are allowed to hate those
who like the music of the St. Louis Jesuits,
or those who like the old Latin Mass.
You are allowed to hate
those who say you have a moral obligation
to get vaccinated against Covid-19,
or those who are hesitant about getting vaccinated.
You are allowed to hate
those who hold the Church’s traditional view on human sexuality,
or those who are gay or lesbian or transgender,
those who say that black lives matter,
or those who say that all lives matter,
those who believe that President Biden won a free and fair election,
or those who believe that the last election was stolen.
I have also learned that the relative anonymity of the internet
helps you to reduce people to positions,
and in so doing strip them
of the complexity and richness and paradox
that accompanies every human life.
I have learned that you can call such people
scum or fascists or homophobes
or libtards or feminazis or just-plain-old-Nazis
or really anything you like,
because, well, they are wrong.
And I have learned that if you show any respect
to those who are wrong,
if you suggest that they might not
be reducible to their mistaken opinion,
or if you suggest that something
other than hatred and mockery might be called for
in persuading them to change their views,
then you are aiding and abetting them
in their wrongness,
and you are just as bad as they are.
helps you to reduce people to positions,
and in so doing strip them
of the complexity and richness and paradox
that accompanies every human life.
I have learned that you can call such people
scum or fascists or homophobes
or libtards or feminazis or just-plain-old-Nazis
or really anything you like,
because, well, they are wrong.
And I have learned that if you show any respect
to those who are wrong,
if you suggest that they might not
be reducible to their mistaken opinion,
or if you suggest that something
other than hatred and mockery might be called for
in persuading them to change their views,
then you are aiding and abetting them
in their wrongness,
and you are just as bad as they are.
Yes, you can learn some amazing things on the internet,
where anonymity enables contempt,
and the contempt that we learn there spills over
into our daily lives and our personal interactions,
poisons our politics and contaminates our culture.
where anonymity enables contempt,
and the contempt that we learn there spills over
into our daily lives and our personal interactions,
poisons our politics and contaminates our culture.
But you can also learn some amazing things
in the Holy Scriptures.
You can learn that Jesus commands us
to love one another as he has loved us.
You can learn that whoever is without love
does not know God, for God is love.
You can learn that we are all called
to become friends of God
and therefore friends of each other,
even to the point of laying down our lives.
You can learn that God’s Holy Spirit
transforms enemies into friends,
that God shows no partiality,
that even a hated Gentile like Cornelius,
who is not only a Roman
but part of an occupying army,
can receive God’s favor
and become a new creation.
in the Holy Scriptures.
You can learn that Jesus commands us
to love one another as he has loved us.
You can learn that whoever is without love
does not know God, for God is love.
You can learn that we are all called
to become friends of God
and therefore friends of each other,
even to the point of laying down our lives.
You can learn that God’s Holy Spirit
transforms enemies into friends,
that God shows no partiality,
that even a hated Gentile like Cornelius,
who is not only a Roman
but part of an occupying army,
can receive God’s favor
and become a new creation.
Please do not misunderstand me.
Right and wrong do exist.
People do hold views and take actions
that are not simply mistaken, but sinful.
We do have a moral obligation to point out untruths,
to offer fraternal correction to the erring,
to spring to the defense
of the oppressed and defenseless,
even to denounce error and sin
in ways that might occasion offense.
But we also have a moral obligation—
indeed, a command from Jesus Christ himself—
to do all this in such a way
that we speak the truth in love,
to speak of those with whom we disagree
as if they were someone’s beloved child or sibling.
Because that is what they are:
they are beloved children of God
and, at least potentially,
our brother or sister in Christ.
Right and wrong do exist.
People do hold views and take actions
that are not simply mistaken, but sinful.
We do have a moral obligation to point out untruths,
to offer fraternal correction to the erring,
to spring to the defense
of the oppressed and defenseless,
even to denounce error and sin
in ways that might occasion offense.
But we also have a moral obligation—
indeed, a command from Jesus Christ himself—
to do all this in such a way
that we speak the truth in love,
to speak of those with whom we disagree
as if they were someone’s beloved child or sibling.
Because that is what they are:
they are beloved children of God
and, at least potentially,
our brother or sister in Christ.
Over the past few decades,
as our world has become more secularized,
it has become common to hear people talk about
how the Church must become more “counter-cultural”:
how even in the face of worldly rejection and ridicule
Christians are called to hold fast to the Gospel
and resist the negative trends
that are present in modern, secular culture.
And we can all think of ways in which Catholic beliefs and values
go against the current of a variety of cultural trends:
in advocating for the dignity of human life
from conception to natural death,
in holding to the permanence and sanctity of marriage,
in teaching that private ownership is not an absolute value
but is directed to the common good and flourishing of all,
in criticizing nationalist and racist ideologies
that divide the human family.
as our world has become more secularized,
it has become common to hear people talk about
how the Church must become more “counter-cultural”:
how even in the face of worldly rejection and ridicule
Christians are called to hold fast to the Gospel
and resist the negative trends
that are present in modern, secular culture.
And we can all think of ways in which Catholic beliefs and values
go against the current of a variety of cultural trends:
in advocating for the dignity of human life
from conception to natural death,
in holding to the permanence and sanctity of marriage,
in teaching that private ownership is not an absolute value
but is directed to the common good and flourishing of all,
in criticizing nationalist and racist ideologies
that divide the human family.
More and more it seems to me, however,
that the most countercultural teaching of the Gospel,
is Jesus’ command, “love one another.”
This is the Gospel teaching that,
if put into practice,
will engender rejection and ridicule,
that will even get you called an enemy of humanity,
a collaborator with evil and a corruptor of morality.
It is also the Gospel teaching that,
if not put into practice,
will make the countercultural stance of the Church
into just one more form of tribal rivalry.
that the most countercultural teaching of the Gospel,
is Jesus’ command, “love one another.”
This is the Gospel teaching that,
if put into practice,
will engender rejection and ridicule,
that will even get you called an enemy of humanity,
a collaborator with evil and a corruptor of morality.
It is also the Gospel teaching that,
if not put into practice,
will make the countercultural stance of the Church
into just one more form of tribal rivalry.
Believe me, I know from experience
how hard this teaching is;
I am in no way free of the dark impulse
to try to dismiss and destroy
those with whom I disagree.
Yet for us who claim the name of Christian
this is the true line in the sand
that must not be crossed;
this is the non-negotiable truth.
As the poet W. H. Auden put it:
“We must love one another or die.”
For whoever is without love—
the love that is God’s Spirit poured into our hearts,
the love that breaches the barriers of human enmity,
the love that lays down its life—
does not know God, for God is love.
So let us pray that the God who loves us
would give us a share in his love,
and may God have mercy on us all.
how hard this teaching is;
I am in no way free of the dark impulse
to try to dismiss and destroy
those with whom I disagree.
Yet for us who claim the name of Christian
this is the true line in the sand
that must not be crossed;
this is the non-negotiable truth.
As the poet W. H. Auden put it:
“We must love one another or die.”
For whoever is without love—
the love that is God’s Spirit poured into our hearts,
the love that breaches the barriers of human enmity,
the love that lays down its life—
does not know God, for God is love.
So let us pray that the God who loves us
would give us a share in his love,
and may God have mercy on us all.
