The Art Of Loose Thinking
By DONALD DeMARCO
Loose thinking occurs when a person widens his argument so that it includes alien elements. Barack Obama offered us an excellent example of loose thinking when he defended the legalization of same-sex marriage by stating that it is about time that someone can marry the person he loves.
Love is far more inclusive than marriage. We can love our parents, siblings, children, and married friends, but we cannot marry them. Marriage demands love, but love does not demand marriage. If one’s belt is too loose, his pants will not stay up; if his reasoning is too loose, his argument will not hold up. Loose talk starts rumors that are often devoid of truth. A sound argument respects truth and excludes what is irrelevant.
There is an art to loose thinking. If one cannot come up with a good argument to defend a position, he may use sheer rhetoric to take the place of sound logic. Obama’s notion of marriage succeeded in convincing many of his supporters. When Edmund Burke stated that the “study of law sharpens the mind by narrowing it,” he was referring to the fact that the law involves only the things that are relevant. There may be ten suspects, but only one is guilty.
Loose thinking occurs in high places. Pope Francis is not immune to such thinking. In defending same-sex civil unions, he stated: “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God. You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
Being “children of God” has never been an issue. Nor is it widely accepted that anyone should “kick someone out of a family.” It should also be pointed out that not everyone has “a right to be in a family.” As St. John Paul II has stated, “The basis of the family is marriage.” Those who are already in a family, including the unborn child, have a right to remain in the family. But no one has a right to a family. If that were not the case, someone would assume the duty of providing that family. And no one has that duty.
At the liberal end of the Church spectrum in Mexico, Saltillo Bishop Raul Vera celebrated the Pope’s comments, comparing it to a breath of fresh air. “It makes me very happy,” he stated, “that a new door is opening in the Church for people who still don’t have a place in it.”
This is a strange comment since all people, including those with same-sex inclinations, are welcomed in the Church. The Church is not discriminating against homosexuals, but defending the Gospel-rooted notion of marriage as a sacrament expressed between a man and a woman.
On the other hand, Hugo Valdemar, a former spokesman for the Mexico City Archdiocese, has remarked that “Pope Francis’ comments go against all of the teaching from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.” He went on to say, that “even though it is not an official document, it is an opinion that the Pope can’t allow himself because he is not a monarch with absolute authority, he must act within the framework of Church doctrine.”
In Canada, Michael Coren, who has made quite a name for himself in the media, has interpreted Pope Francis’ statement on same-sex civil unions so loosely that in includes elements that are clearly un-Christian. He contends that Pope Francis’ endorsement of civil unions for homosexuals make the Catholic Church “kinder, more informed, and more Christian.”
Let us examine his claims.
Kinder: “The greatest kindest one can render to any man,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas, “consists in leading him to truth.” We are not kind to a person merely by approving what he wants, especially when what he wants is injurious to him. Love is not blind; it proceeds from a knowledge of what is good. Knowledge is eye-opening. This is particular the case with regard to homosexual sexual activities.
More informed: The function of the immune system is to protect the self from alien substances that are potentially harmful to it. From a strict immunological standpoint, conception would not be possible, for the immune system would recognize the sperm as an alien substance. However, semen carries, along with the sperm, a mild immunosuppressant which, deposited in the right place, allows the woman’s body to accept it and also permits the resulting child to develop.
Here we have a deeper understanding of the meaning of “two-in-one-flesh.” Marriage is not grounded in abstract rights, but in the embodied nature of the marital partners.
Something dangerous occurs when the immunosuppressant is deposited in the wrong place. In carrying out its natural function, it creates an “immuno-permissive environment,” facilitating the formation of various kinds of pathogens, the most notable of which it brings is AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome). Therefore, the endorsement of same-sex unions may lead, among men, to many deaths and certainly does not represent a caring attitude toward homosexuals.
More Christian: The endorsement of same-sex civil unions contradicts all Catholic teaching as made clear in the Catholic Catechism, in the Bible, in Church tradition, and in every Church document on the matter. This unanimity and uncompromising legacy has not varied over a span of more than 2,000 years. This consistent teaching is a clear expression of Christian teaching. Coren’s contention that deviating from this tradition makes Christianity “more Christian” is simply an example of loose thinking.
The endorsement of same-sex unions is not kind to homosexuals, nor is it intellectually informed, nor does it represent an improvement of Christianity. Moreover, it makes a mockery of real marital unions that have the potentiality for initiating new life while at the same time offering husband and wife fulfillment through the complementarity of their natures. Loose thinking about marriage fails to honor what marriage really is. It is an overreach that purports to be broad and liberal, but, in fact, contradicts what it presumes to defend.
- + + (Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University, a senior fellow with Human Life International, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College. His book Why I Am Pro-life and Not Politically Correct is posted on Amazon.com.)