He Speaks
He shed his beneficent light upon all those with whom he met, those in close audience and those who thronged from afar. He is, without doubt, the most significantly influential personage on the face of this earth. Not merely to those of his faith, although they are legion, but through the status of his office as God's representative on earth, a force for good throughout the world regardless of religion or lack thereof.Heads of government are mere passing national representatives. Titular, regal heads of nations, clerics of other religions, wealthy socialites, celebrities, heads of giant corporations, all are pleased to audience in his presence, to absorb his blessing. His office is an ancient and much venerated one, a natural offshoot of a reverence for a spiritual being whom humankind pays grave obeisance to, a divine human construct.
A needed institution for a needed spiritualism, answering to a critical need to fill a gap in the soulful consciousness of humankind.
So when this man, or any of his predecessors, and his successors speak, the world takes heed. Yet this shepherd of the faithful is as human, as frail and as fallible to a degree as any other human being. Albeit invested with the power that stems from association with great holiness. His message is undeniably needed, and has been repeated through time immemorial. We humans are notoriously slow learners.
But then, we also have the inspiration and the tradition and the errors of the church itself to look at for precedents in human failings. He is right in arguing that theology, matters of the spirit, and the science of philosophy are responsible for constructing a foundation for the recognition of human rights. Simply because human beings require that kind of reminding instruction through the auspices of a higher source.
Yet, when he states that the best of humankind in emotional recognition of the needs of human beings being "...based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations..." he is ascribing to Nature that with which she has designed her creatures. The universality of the recognition of human rights; the compassion we have for others in recognizing their needs and their rights, have been endowed upon us by nature.
Nature is that godly presence so dear to the hearts of believers, preferring to label her a manly God. Pope Benedict spoke of the "responsibility to protect", a sacred responsibility of one to the other, which humankind has too often been guilty of neglecting. Worse, of imposing upon others limitless grief and pain, and often enough in the name of religion. As long as we view one another as different or as "others" we will succumb to tormenting one another.
The concept of responsibility to protect, newly coined as a UN phrase to induce nations united under the UN banner to understand their obligations toward others irrespective of borders, when a country imposes a brutal totalitarianism upon its people, has proven to be a lovely theory, but a failure in practise. Much as the Roman Catholic Church overlooked its obligation to protect the most vulnerable among its parishioners from the predations of their priests.
So too has the United Nations proved a feeble instrument to protect the people of Rwanda, of North Korea, of Sudan, of Burma, of Tibet.
Labels: Political Realities, Religion, Societal Failures, World News
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, April 20, 2008
<< Home