Free Republic

Alasdair MacIntyre once quipped that “facts, like telescopes and wigs for gentlemen, were a seventeenth-century invention.” Something similar can be said about sexual orientation: Heterosexuals, like typewriters and urinals (also, obviously, for gentlemen), were an invention of the 1860s. Contrary to our cultural preconceptions and the lies of what has come to be called “orientation essentialism,” “straight” and “gay” are not ageless absolutes. Sexual orientation is a conceptual scheme with a history, and a dark one at that. It is a history that began far more recently than most people know, and it is one that will likely end much...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 23: Moral Theology (Part 2) Moralists emphasize that there are two fundamental norms of morality to which all other things can be reduced. One of these norms is said to be objective, and the other is subjective. The objective norm of morality is law in all of its ramifications, and the subjective norm of morality is the conscience. We have to look very carefully at those two points. What do we mean when we talk about law? The definition given by Saint Thomas Aquinas is that law is “an ordinance of reason...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 22: Moral Theology (Part 1) Throughout the previous lessons we have been looking at the basics of the Faith, but now we have to look at the implications of that, how to put it into practice. In his letter in the New Testament, Saint James says, Faith without works is dead. It is not just enough to have faith. Jesus said, Not everyone who cries out “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, they would not be calling Him “Lord” if they did not have some faith. In fact, Saint...