[AntiGuv]

Anthropology is irrelevant to textual Christianity. I am aware of Pope John Paul II's defense of using universalistic natural law ethics in theological guidance. More power to him; it's a step in the right direction.

I would note however that in his 1993 Encyclical Veritatis Splendor he rejects the insights of cultural anthropology. There seems to be a certain instability in John Paul's doctrinal postulates.

[Torie]

John, Antiguv typically has interior lines of defense. He is armed and dangerous. That does not make him right per se, but it does make him an excellent vehicle for honing ones own rhetorical skills, and being stimulated to look further into the matters at hand. Kudos to antiguv when he gets serious, rather than just playing around, which of course is what I largely did on this thread. I admit it.

[jwalsh07]

"Totalitarianism arises out of a denial of truth in the objective sense. If there is no transcendent truth, in obedience to which man achieves his full identity, then there is no sure principle for guaranteeing just relations between people. Their self- interest as a class, group or nation would inevitably set them in opposition to one another. If one does not acknowledge transcendent truth, then the force of power takes over, and each person tends to make full use of the means at his disposal in order to impose his own interests or his own opinion, with no regard for the rights of others . . . Thus, the root of modern totalitarianism is to be found in the denial of the transcendent dignity of the human person who, as the visible image of the invisible God, is therefore by his very nature the subject of rights which no one may violate no individual, group, class, nation or State. Not even the majority of a social body may violate these rights, by going against the minority, by isolating, oppressing, or exploiting it, or by attempting to annihilate it".[155]

Sounds positively Jeffersonian to me.