When democracy oversteps

THE IDEA came again to me recently when I read an article accusing the Catholic Church of encroaching on civil governance by "imposing its dogma" about the population issue on the people. This is, of course, disinformation. The Catholic Church never imposes. Its teachings would lose they value if they were imposed. It clarifies, it teaches, but it never imposes.

The argument used was that we are supposed to be in a democracy, and in a democracy the simple majority gets what it wants.

Or worse, that in a democracy everyone is free to do whatever he wants as long as it is not illegal.

With this line of thinking, it would then be democratic when we could convince a simple majority of kindergarten tots that 2 plus 2 is 5.

Or it would just be democratic to kill and steal and lie as long as one is not suspected, accused or caught, since the legal system can be activated only in that way.

Even if our laws say it is illegal to kill, steal or lie, they can mean nothing unless a person is at least accused in a court of law. In the end, our laws cannot stand without some reference to an objective moral law.

Thus a democracy not based on morality and on proper ethical values can only be an anomaly and source of great danger and disorder to persons and society.

As the Pope said in his encyclical Centesimus Annus, "Authentic democracy is possible only in a state ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person." (46, 2)

A democracy not anchored on objective and absolute values, principles and criteria would be a great sham, a shameless self-appointed claimant of power that it tends to abuse.

It would be a democracy that ignores the basic truth that all power we use, all freedom we enjoy, and all the truth we know come from God, and not simply from our own consensus, no matter how popularly achieved.

It would be a democracy that has no other way but to be propped up by way of force and violence and a complicated network of lies, deception and gimmickry.

Thus, those pro-choice advocates of family planning, openly pushing for contraceptives and vasectomy, etc., by screaming that they are just exercising their rights and freedom, are violating this basic truth about democracy.

Artificial contraception can never be a true act of freedom, because it in the first place is against the moral law. And it is against the moral law because it goes against the very nature and meaning of human sexuality and marriage.

Of course, there are those who may claim that they have a conception of natural law different from that of the Catholic Church. They cannot be forced to tow the church line.

In which case there should be a discussion in the level of philosophy and the other relevant human sciences to determined which interpretation is correct.

This is where the problem usually stems. Many people are allergic to such discussion. They just prefer to have a consensus.

But consensus-taking is not the way to determine the truth. We need to study things deeply, going into the very essence of things to really find out which is true and which is false about what is to be authentically human.