 | Editor's Note: The following is an abstract of a paper presented at a seminar held by Christ the King Law Center (CKLC) on October 5, 2013 titled Is the Constitution Catholic? |
In the United States liberalism has embedded itself within the fabric of our society. Don Felix Sarda y Salvany, a priest who studied liberalism in America, observed that “[i]n America it [Liberalism] would scarcely seem to exist at all, so ingrained is it in our social conditions, so natural is it to the prevailing modes of thought, so congenital is it with the dominant religious notions about us, so congenial a habitat to the Protestant sects. Indeed it is a very constituent of the pseudoreligious and pseudomoral atmosphere we daily breathe.” [1] Father Sarda y Salvany noted that liberalism’s “chief manifestation in the United States is in the form of what is popularly called nonsectarianism.” [2]
Nonsectarianism or secularism upholds a number of erroneous doctrines. These are: “that one religion is as good as another, that everyone has a right to believe what he pleases; that differences in creed are after all but differences in forms of expression; that everyone may select his own creed or sect according to his taste, or even altogether repudiate religious beliefs, and finally, that religion is a thing entirely apart from civic and social life.” [3] Such beliefs are legally upheld in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Father Sarda y Salvany also stated that the liberal atmosphere in this country very often causes Catholics to compromise their faith in order to avoid friction and be accepted by the rest of society. He wrote:
[1] F. Sarda Y Salvany. Liberalism is a Sin 170 (1886).
[2] Ibid; my emphasis.
[3] Ibid; my emphasis.
[4] F. Sarda Y Salvany. Liberalism is a Sin 171-172 (1886).
Nonsectarianism or secularism upholds a number of erroneous doctrines. These are: “that one religion is as good as another, that everyone has a right to believe what he pleases; that differences in creed are after all but differences in forms of expression; that everyone may select his own creed or sect according to his taste, or even altogether repudiate religious beliefs, and finally, that religion is a thing entirely apart from civic and social life.” [3] Such beliefs are legally upheld in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Father Sarda y Salvany also stated that the liberal atmosphere in this country very often causes Catholics to compromise their faith in order to avoid friction and be accepted by the rest of society. He wrote:
- “That Catholics should not feel the effects of this relaxing atmosphere is scarcely to be expected. With the air so strongly impregnated with poison it would be difficult indeed to keep the blood healthy. In not a few instances they have fallen victims to the plague, and if not always out and out corrupted they become not a little tainted. Hence we find amongst, if not a large, at least no small number an easy disposition to compromise or minimize their faith in points of doctrine or practice. The natural tendency in human nature to escape friction and avoid antagonism is unhappily in most instances a ready factor in the direction of concession." [4]
[1] F. Sarda Y Salvany. Liberalism is a Sin 170 (1886).
[2] Ibid; my emphasis.
[3] Ibid; my emphasis.
[4] F. Sarda Y Salvany. Liberalism is a Sin 171-172 (1886).
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