Argument from Bad Catholics II: We Know They're Bad
Another Unorganized Argument
No one is going to stand up for the theological integrity of Joe Biden. Advocating for more permissive abortion laws is totally unacceptable for a Catholic, particularly one with such a visible and powerful public office. But one thing that sets bad Catholics apart from bad Protestants is that it is possible to objectively and publicly delineate them from good Catholics.1 Because Rome has an absolute right to define doctrine, when a Catholic is out of line with her teachings, there is a clear winner and loser. No other branch of Christianity can claim as much.2
To determine whether someone is living consistently with Catholic claims, Catholics can make an argument in the following loose form:
Rome has said x is incompatible with fully Christian living.
Person p is doing x.
Therefore, with respect to x, p is not a good Christian.
Other Christians have to appeal to exegesis or natural reason to prove that x is incompatible with fully Christian living. They have to rely on persuading someone to see things their way, with no a priori reason to expect that they’re right. Even if you make an appeal to the authority of Luther, Calvin, or C.S. Lewis, they too lack a priori authority, and can only be called upon for better arguments, or, at best, as endorsers of your position to raise its prima facie credibility. You will finally lack the theological resources to compel the assent of someone who just doesn’t see it like you do. How much worse will the problem be when you are trying to communicate to the secular world that, say, the Pride flags outside your local Episcopal church ought not be there? I’m reminded of an extremely specific Nigerian proverb that was floating around the internet a few years ago:
“You can't run naked after a mad man in the street after he has taken your clothes away from you because the public will not know who is the mad person between the two of you.”
Of course, Rome usually does provide a theological and philosophical rationale for her decisions. The use of absolute authority does not mean acting contrary to reason, but rather the dutiful obedience to one whose reason has a divine writ of protection. The question is not whether to trust God’s word or man’s reason, but whether you will accept God’s Word about a man’s reasons.
So. Having a definitive authority is good for those who wish not to be heretics, and good for our ability to present a unified Christian front to our culture. When Joe Biden advocates for abortion laws, there is no room for him to “agree to disagree” with the Supreme Pontifex. Of course, he can disagree with Rome, but just to the extent that he does that, he objectively fails as a Catholic.
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Of course, because I believe in the Fall, I don’t think any of us are good Catholics in the strictest sense.
The Orthodox would actually say this about ecumenical councils, but they haven’t managed to have one since the Schism, so it’s a moot point.