From time to time I check out liberal Catholic blogs. The other day I read a piece at the blog "Enlightened Catholicism" on how an authentic spiritual conversion is a whole body process that rewires our neural pathways. Now I don't know if that's true or not - I suppose the only way to check is to do a brain scan on an atheist, and then do another one after he converts to see if there any differences. Still, it's an interesting concept. The author cites an article which is used to show that conservatives and liberals are wired differently...but the differences are described such that conservatives are wired badly, while the liberals are wired to be "other" focused -empathetic, nuanced, and so on. Of course, the article's author is George Lackoff, a committed liberal, so I'm sure there's no real or intentioned bias in the piece. And his article originally appeared in the Huffington Post - again, no indication whatsoever of any liberal bias (cough cough)...
Here's the url for the post: http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com/2010/02/really-important-post-containing-really.html, if you're interested in reading the whole thing.
At the end of the piece, the author wrote this:
I can not stress how important it is for progressives to understand the neuroscience involved in the above. Logic, as we currently define it, has no moral authority to change anybody because it is a head game. On some level Benedict knows this, which is why he can write such beautiful logic in his encyclicals but then turn around and use the 'disordered homosexual' and abortion cards as the primary basis on which to further his brain entrained notions of the traditional family and traditional Catholicism. The use of the term homosexual punches both the paternalistic sexual morality button, and just as importantly, the disgust button.
The 'reason' and logic of his encyclicals is brain candy for liberals and as such has zero impact on the conservative forces to which he is really pointing his papacy. In other words he disarms liberals by soothing their need for 'truth' by using the logic of false reason, and then reinforces his conservative supporters through gay bashing and reinforcing their notions of traditional family and traditional liturgy.
This is powerful stuff and liberals have to get over their reliance on logic and realize even they are subject to the rules of neural entrainment. There really is a method to what appears on the surface as conservative madness.
Now that really made me laugh. So according to the author, us orthodox 'traditional' Catholics are mere automatons that respond like Pavlov's dogs to reactionary terms and are too mind-numbed to appreciate 'logic'. We lack empathy. We fail the compassion test. We're only concerned with being obedient and not engaging the intellect. And the progressive Catholics, because they're so much smarter and more highly developed, can't expect logic to work on us knuckle-dragging traditionalists. But yet they are stupid to fall for Pope Benedict's "false reason"? Hmmm.
I think the analysis fails on many levels. What it all comes down to is relativism. Progressive Catholics pick and choose what tenets they wish to follow, frame their beliefs by their experiences, wrap it all up in the primacy of conscience, call their dissent on issues such as women's ordination, contraception, gay marriage and the like "compassion", with the final argument being that Christ called us to Love, and to disagree with their positions is to be unloving and hateful. Maybe their brains are hard-wired to believe such things, but I think it comes down to pride. It leads to false and misplaced compassion. In my experience, progressive Catholics tend to focus too much on the feelings and not enough on the facts. Forsaking objective truths for subjective reactions.
The first thing that came to mind after reading that was Star Trek: Captain Kirk as the emotion-driven progressive who has an incorrect idea of what love is, with Mr. Spock as the reasonable truth-oriented traditionalist who seeks for answers outside of his own experiences.
Actually, neither stereotype is accurate. God gave us intellect and emotion, and He wants us to use both of them in balance. Our ongoing mission? - to get to heaven. Our Prime Directive? - to love God first, and our neighbor as our self. Starfleet? - why, that's the Church of course. She assists us in our mission, and provides the means to follow the Prime Directive (ie: the Sacraments & the Magisterium). If we disobey Starfleet by going off on our own - by saying "no" to any doctrine of the faith - then we risk failing our mission.
Still, I think Spock would make a great Catholic. After all, it was he who said "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one." How Catholic is that?