THE HAZARDS OF TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
The "turn the other cheek" idea never sat well with me. Well before I commenced 12 years of education in Catholic schools, played altar boy at the daily 6:30 am morning Mass, served at 2 or 3 Masses some Sundays and always on Wedding and Funeral Masses, and all the rest, I began to identify Church doctrine and accepted teachings that didn't make sense. Over time, the 'sorry, doesn't make sense' list was longer than the 'okay, I can live with that' list. I knew enough to keep such thoughts to myself. For reasons I don't understand even now, I felt no need to ask adults or other kids if I was being led astray by big bad Lucifer. One good thing about being a 5 year old raised Catholic, I figured Michael the Archangel would probably be dispatched to thump him again if he messed with a 5 year old.
It seems quite clear to me many of the most critical lessons contained in the Bible-- especially words uttered by Jesus the troublemaker---have never been included in the primary curriculum. I'm convinced lousy teachers prompt far too many good people to conclude the Bible is but a book full of weird fairy tales with no relevance to their daily lives. I think it fair to say we've ignored all evidence to the contrary in our need to view Jesus as a tall, slender, blue-eyed, ultra-sensitive, warm fuzzies emitting, naive hippie pacifist. Apparently, he was a far more rugged guy, who never shied away from conflict, had a commanding presence with a temper.
Let's take a quick look at the 'turn the other cheek' doctrine. Unquestionably, there is an important message embedded in this teaching (let's leave that for another day). Lots of people end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater when they've heard their preacher or religious friend launch into the usual babel one too many times.
If you will, play along with me. Read the quote below, check your gut reaction to the idea, and take a guess at who or the general type of person who'd write something so contrary to what we all learned in religion classes---forget about denominations and try not to get tripped up by the fact I was raised Catholic.
"There are in fact situations in which values proposed by God's Law seem to involve a genuine paradox. This happens....in the case of legitimate self-defense, in which the right to protect one's own life and the duty not to harm someone else's life are difficult to reconcile in practice. Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the DUTY to love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defense. The demanding commandment of love of neighbor.....itself presupposes love of oneself as the basis of comparison: "You shall love your neighbor AS YOURSELF. Consequently, NO ONE CAN RENOUNCE THE RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE....
Moreover, the "legitimate defense can be NOT ONLY A RIGHT BUT A GRAVE DUTY FOR SOMEONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANOTHER'S LIFE, THE COMMON GOOD OF THE FAMILY OR THE COMMUNITY.....Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life."
No where in this passage do I see even indirect references to turning the other cheek. I have never heard or read anything remotely similar to such thinking come out of any religious preacher or teacher. Here we are reminded of a duty to love ourselves, informed no body has a right to renounce the right/obligation to defend oneself, and more or less ordered to take all necessary steps to fulfill a GRAVE DUTY to protect the innocent even if that results in the death of a predator.....a grave duty to KILL to prevent someone from 'CAUSING HARM'.
Just to bring this down to reality, we encounter someone who declares we have a grave duty to protect a woman from being raped, a child from being battered, and so on (I suggest that it would be a mistake to assume this stuff only applies to physical harm only-----the deepest wounds are inflicted using words). There is no mention of the need to weigh the suffering of a rape victim or battered child---after all---'they will recover' against ending the aggressor's life. So, if we encounter a bad guy engaged in causing harm to an innocent vulnerable person we have a GRAVE duty to effectively neutralize the bad guy even if it results in his death.
Enough said for now. There are plenty of issues raised by this passage to be addressed on another day. It might take some people a bit of time to digest this one. Hell, it sounds like I've twisted the Gospel teachings to suit myself. I can hear it now..." The precocious 5 year old is now a dangerously arrogant and callous man attempting to make slick arguments to lead people away from a central teaching of the Church---"turn the other cheek".
I'm not too worried about any of that. The passage above was written by John Paul II in his encyclical-"Evangelium Vitae" or "Gospel of Life". Curiously, he was known to be quite a rough character in his youth. I imagine when he was forced to use a cane as Parkinson's disease progressed, he practiced Polish stick fighting. It took an old frail 84 year old man from Poland---a Pope--to order men to step up to their responsibilities. Life is too damn much some time. I miss that old man.
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