Religion Is Not A Dirty Word

 One of the things I love most about Catholicism is the "both/and" (rather than "either/or") approach to things. Faith and works do not stand in contradiction, as it is written "Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only?" (Ja 2:24). Likewise, faith and reason "are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth" (Fides et Ratio). Great doctors of the Church like Augustine and Aquinas did not shed the philosophies of old completely but baptized them in Christ. We fast and we feast. We abstain and we imbibe. 

So, when I see Protty reductionist posturing like this, I can't help but roll my eyes a bit:

It smacks of the upcoming generations of young adults in Europe and even here in America who do not see the legal and sacramental bonds of marriage as a necessary pre-requisite for a life-long partnership with another person or for having children. In these instances, the attitude is "I don't need a peace of paper (a certificate of marriage) to prove my love for so-and-so. We know in our hearts we are committed to one another." And so on.

But the fact is, you do need vows to sustain a relationship, you do need legal recognition as marriage is a common good, and you need public witness in addition to private commitments. 

Like many anti-reason, anti-intellectual, and anti-works Protestant lines of thinking, the "It's a relationship, not a religion" is the either/or, reductionist approach to faith. It sees "religion" as a sullied thing, a dirty word, unworthy to be yoked to the Savior's redeeming cross. And it downplays St. Paul's admonition to the Thessalonians to "stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle" (2 Thess 2:15)

I have used this example many times, but can you imagine a body that was "all heart" or "all head" without the benefit of a skeleton? There would be no structure, no form, not ability to move. The body would puddle on the ground in a pile of skin and organs. The skeleton provides the necessary protection of organs, form for the muscles to operate in, and the ability to move about. If "relationship" is entering into the heart of God, religion is that composition of bones which protects it.

In fact, in the first part of the second epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul preaches against the "Man of Lawlessness" (2 Thess 2:1-12). What is a man of lawlessness but one who lives by his own standard, his own canon, deceiving with disorder and anarchy against the law which has been established by God (the natural law and the moral law)? Like Satan, he says, "I will not serve," I will not abide by a standard which is not my own. Like the sarabaites that St. Benedict spoke of so detestably in his Rule, "Their law is what they like to do, whatever strikes their fancy. Anything they believe in and choose, they call holy; anything they dislike, they consider forbidden." (Rule Ch 1.6-9)

Protestantism is reactionary in its founding. It reacted against the abuses within the Church by throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Christians who attempt to do the same with regards to holy religion set themselves up as holy sarabaites with no need for the law of God beyond what they interpret themselves apart from tradition. 

Of course, we should not be like "white washed tombs" that our Lord warns about, washing the outside of the cup while the inside remains filthy--the detestability of empty religion. And yes, we must work for justice for the widows and orphans, to hold the "true religion" St. James speaks about (Ja 1:27).

But to live the Christian faith--especially when doctrine is challenged and defrauded by the coming man of lawlessness and in times of persecution--necessitates holding fast to tradition (ie, the religion of our fathers) and it's holy doctrine. It becomes too easy to justify stepping on the fumie, renouncing the faith, when we reason "God will forgive me...after all, we are in relationship. He will understand." Religion is like a vow--it protects the hearts of the treatise holders, it is the rope binding us to the mast, it allows us to live with integrity when we are clouded by doubt of what is true and right--a compass in a tempest. 

Why would anyone other than a fool throw religion overboard in a storm? Holding to religion and being in relationship with Christ are not mutually exclusive things. Like a marriage contract, a legal vow, a covenant between man and wife, it protects and gives form to the essence of that bond--the love and commitment rooted in the vow to be true til death. 

No, religion is not a dirty word; don't let any well meaning evangelical with no tradition to stand on and no fathers in the faith convince you otherwise.