The Age of Religious Relativism

Church Militant ^ | February 7, 2019 | George Neumayr

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The Age of Religious Relativism

Pope Francis is contributing to it

Pope Francis is making his flirtations with religious relativism more and more explicit. During his trip to the United Arab Emirates this week, Pope Francis signed a joint declaration with his Islamic hosts on "human fraternity." It contained a statement his predecessors would have found shocking: "The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings."

His predecessors would have called that an endorsement of false religions, an endorsement made worse by enlisting God's "wisdom" in such an endorsement. The multiplication of flawed religions is willed by God? That's not what the Bible tells us. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ speaks of the will of the father, that all humans "may be one": "As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Many popes have condemned the "indifferentism" on display in the statement Pope Francis signed. In the 19th century, Pope Gregory XVI already saw the seed of religious relativism growing within the Church:

Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that "there is one God, one faith, one baptism" may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that "those who are not with Christ are against Him," and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him.

Imagine what Pope Gregory XVI would say today. Pope Francis frequently implies during his interfaith meetings that morality, or what he calls "social justice," is more important than "doctrine." In his extreme ecumenism, the Pope is conforming perfectly to the lowest-common-denominator culture of a post-Christian age.

Pope Francis has great enthusiasm for "religion" in general while subjecting his own religion to dismissive critiques. He regularly caricatures the most fervent members of his religion as heartless "Pharisees" or dangerous "fundamentalists." Meanwhile, while in the company of truly dangerous fundamentalists on his stops in Islamic countries, he flatters them with descriptions of their religion as one of "peace."

As typical of the religious order from which he comes, the Jesuits, Pope Francis exudes enthusiasm for non-Western religions and the most liberal branches of Western ones. He is famous for telling a group of Protestant pastors: "I don't want to convert you." The left-leaning Religion News Service has been so impressed by the Pope's lack of interest in Catholic evangelization that it once asked in a headline: "Is Francis the First Protestant Pope?"

Islamic leaders are eager to invite him to their countries because they see him as a propagandist for a non-threatening and hollow religiosity that makes it easier for those leaders to stay in power. They have also warmed to his embrace of Islamic immigrants in Europe and his complete lack of interest in reviving a Christian Europe. When he has been asked about the historical Christian roots of Europe, Pope Francis has struck a negative note.

The theme of many of the Pope's globe-trotting visits is 'hope,' but it is not a hope in the final revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a decidedly temporal and political hope, which is to say, an empty and delusional one.Tweet

"We need to speak of roots in the plural because there are so many," he has commented. "In this sense, when I hear talk of the Christian roots of Europe, I sometimes dread the tone, which can seem triumphalist or even vengeful. It then takes on colonialist overtones."

European liberals have applauded him for such comments. In 2016, a group of left-wing Europeans conferred upon him the misnamed "Charlemagne Prize," misnamed insofar as it honors not Charlemagne's influence on Christian Europe but the liberals who have diluted it. In his acceptance speech, Francis sounded less like a pope than John Lennon: "I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being."

The tribute to religious relativism he signed this week will only make the re-Christianizing of Europe harder and make the prospect of "Eurabia" more likely. Religious relativism has been good for Islam and bad for Christianity. The theme of many of the Pope's globe-trotting visits is "hope," but it is not a hope in the final revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a decidedly temporal and political hope, which is to say, an empty and delusional one.

The Western experiment of a "Christianity without Christ" has been a complete failure, engendering not "fraternity" but the deepest possible divisions amid an imploding culture of suicidal secularism.

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European liberals have applauded him for such comments. In 2016, a group of left-wing Europeans conferred upon him the misnamed "Charlemagne Prize," misnamed insofar as it honors not Charlemagne's influence on Christian Europe but the liberals who have diluted it. In his acceptance speech, Francis sounded less like a pope than John Lennon: "I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being."

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Ping

[antidemoncrat]

“The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings.”

Does that mean God wants a “One World Religion” and the Jesus that Islam proclaims will return with the Mahdi and make all Christians convert to Islam or be killed.

[Bigg Red]

Come, Holy Spirit, remove this false pope and replace him with a good and faithful shepherd.

[Pelham]

Worst.Pope.Ever.

[faithhopecharity]

at the VERY LEAST, if Pope Francis is going to be ecumenical..... he should distinguish between those religious communities that pray to the one true Creator (teaching basically moral values)... and those that pray to Satan (teaching their adherents to invade, infiltrate, subvert, attack, bomb, murder, maim, and conquer the rest of us).

Any six week old pond frog can tell the difference between the (RC) Church.. and Islam.....certainly the pope can tell the difference (and he has many advisors who can explain it to him, if necessary)...so..... the question is.....unavoidable..... Why is Pope Francis kissing up to... and knowingly enabling... Satan’s Legions?

[faithhopecharity]

at the VERY LEAST, if Pope Francis is going to be ecumenical..... he should distinguish between those religious communities that pray to the one true Creator (teaching basically moral values)... and those that pray to Satan (teaching their adherents to invade, infiltrate, subvert, attack, bomb, murder, maim, and conquer the rest of us).

Any six week old pond frog can tell the difference between the (RC) Church.. and Islam.....certainly the pope can tell the difference (and he has many advisors who can explain it to him, if necessary)...so..... the question is.....unavoidable..... Why is Pope Francis kissing up to... and knowingly enabling... Satan’s Legions?

[MacNaughton]

7 … Why is Pope Francis kissing up to... and knowingly enabling... Satan’s Legions?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed., 2016
http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html
Its commentary on Islam states:

The Moslems, “professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who at the last day will judge mankind” (Lumen Gentium 16). Though the Islamic faith does not acknowledge Jesus as God, it does revere Him as prophet, and also honors His virgin mother. Moslems “prize the moral life, and give worship to God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting” (Nostra Aetate 3). Noting that there had been many quarrels and hostilities between Christians and Muslims, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) urged that all “forget the past and strive sincerely for mutual understanding, and, on the behalf of all mankind, make common cause of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral values, peace, and freedom” (Nostra Aetate 3).

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael I affirmed that he was present at the Vatican when John Paul II kissed the Muslim "holy" book: "On May 14th (1999) I was received by the Pope, together with a delegation composed of the Shi'ite imam of Khadum mosque and the Sunni president of the council of administration of the Iraqi Islamic Bank. There was also a representative of the Iraqi ministry of religion. .... At the end of the audience the Pope bowed to the Muslim holy book, the Qu'ran, presented to him by the delegation, and he kissed it as a sign of respect. The photo of that gesture has been shown repeatedly on Iraqi television and it demonstrates that the Pope is not only aware of the suffering of the Iraqi people, he has also great respect for Islam."

11/30/2006

[ebb tide]

Pay no heed to post conciliar "catechisms", or documents, for that matter; they contain errors.

Here's a real Catholic Catechism:

Catholic Catechism

177.What are the sins against Faith? The sins against Faith are all false religions, willful doubt, disbelief, or denial of any article of Faith and also culpable ignorance of the doctrines of the Church.

[piusv]

Yes every single one of these Vatican 2 “popes” professed and taught the false religion of ecumenism and indifferentism. Anyone who thinks this is only a Francis thing is fooling themselves.

[faithhopecharity]

Lord. Have mercy!!

[Mmmike]

With everything that’s happened in the church over the past half-century, why is Abp. Marcel Lefebvre the only person subjected to formal discipline?

[faithhopecharity]

These men with their evil deeds and preaching-_make it harder and harder for regular people to maintain any faith at all.