"Imposing Our Beliefs" on Others
by Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/links/jump.cgi?ID=4872
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A lot of hot-button topics are being debated in our state legislatures these
days, topics of great ethical and bioethical importance, ranging from
emergency contraception to gay marriage. These debates address important
issues for the future of our society. Lawmakers face the daunting task of
making decisions about what should or should not be permitted by law within
a reasonable society. Recently I was asked to speak in Virginia at
legislative hearings about embryonic stem cell research. After I gave my
testimony, one of the senators asked a pointed question. "Father Tad, by
arguing against embryonic stem cell research, don't you see how you are
trying to impose your beliefs on others, and shouldn't we as elected
lawmakers avoid imposing a narrow religious view on the rest of society?"
The senator's question was an example of the fuzzy thinking that has become
commonplace in recent years within many state legislatures and among many
lawmakers.

Two major errors were incorporated into the senator's question. First, the
senator failed to recognize the fact that law is fundamentally about
imposing somebody's views on somebody else. Imposition is the name of the
game. It is the very nature of law to impose particular views on people who
don't want to have those views imposed on them. Car thieves don't want laws
imposed on them which prohibit stealing. Drug dealers don't want laws
imposed on them which make it illegal to sell drugs. Yet our lawmakers are
elected precisely to craft and impose such laws all the time. So the
question is not whether we will impose something on somebody. The question
is instead whether whatever is going to be imposed by the force of law is
reasonable, just, and good for society and its members.

The second logical mistake the senator made was to suppose that because
religion happens to hold a particular viewpoint, that implies that such a
viewpoint should never be considered by lawmakers or enacted into law.
Religion teaches very clearly that stealing is immoral. Would it follow that
if I support laws against stealing, I am imposing my narrow religious
viewpoint on society? Clearly not. Rather, the subject of stealing is so
important to the order of society that religion also feels compelled to
speak about it. Religion teaches many things that can be understood as true
by people who aren't religious at all. Atheists can understand just as well
as Catholics how stealing is wrong, and most atheists are just as angry as
their Catholic neighbors when their house is broken into and robbed. What is
important is not whether a proposed law happens to be taught by religion,
but whether that proposal is just, right, and good for society and its
members.

To be more coherent, of course, the senator really should have chosen to
address the substance of my testimony, rather than talking about the
imposition of religious views. The argument I had offered, interestingly,
did not depend on religious dogma at all. It depended rather on an important
scientific dogma, namely, that all humans come from embryonic humans. The
statement that I was once an embryo is a statement about embryology, not
theology. Given the fact that we were all once embryonic humans it becomes
very clear why destructive embryonic research is an immoral kind of
activity. Exploiting the weak and not-yet-born in the interests of the
powerful and the well-heeled should not be permitted in a civilized society.
This argument, moreover, can be clearly seen by atheists, not just
Catholics.

During my testimony, I pointed out how in the United States we have
stringent federal laws that protect not only the national bird, the bald
eagle, but also that eagle's eggs. If you were to chance upon some of them
in a nest out in the wilderness, it would be illegal for you to destroy
those eggs. By the force of law, we recognize how the egg of the bald eagle,
that is to say, the embryonic eagle inside that egg, is the same creature as
the glorious bird that we witness flying high overhead. Therefore we pass
laws to safeguard not only the adult but also the very youngest member of
that species. Even atheists can see how a bald eagle's eggs should be
protected; it's really not a religious question at all. What's so
troublesome is how we are able to understand the importance of protecting
the earliest stages of animal life but when it comes to our own human life,
a kind of mental disconnect takes place. Our moral judgment quickly becomes
murky and obtuse when we desire to do certain things that are not good, like
having abortions, or destroying embryonic humans for their stem cells.

So anytime we come across a lawmaker who tries to suggest that an argument
in defense of sound morals is nothing but imposing a religious viewpoint, we
need to look deeper at what may really be taking place. That lawmaker may
not be so concerned about avoiding the imposition of a particular view on
others - more likely, they are jockeying to simply be able to impose their
view, a view which is ultimately much less tenable and defensible in terms
of sound moral thinking. Hence they seek to short-circuit the discussion by
stressing religious zealotry and imposition without ever confronting the
substantive ethical or bioethical argument itself. Once the religious
imposition card is played, and Christian lawmakers suddenly become
weak-kneed about defending human life and sound morals, the other side then
feels free to do the imposing themselves, without having expended too much
effort on confronting the essence of the moral debate itself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk. "'Imposing Our Beliefs' on Others." Making Sense
Out of Bioethics (September, 2005).

Father Tad Pacholczyk writes a weekly column, Making Sense out of Bioethics,
which appears in various diocesan newspapers across the country.

This article is reprinted with permission of the author, Rev. Tadeusz
Pacholczyk, Ph.D.

THE AUTHOR

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from
Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of
Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National
Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) has a long history of
addressing ethical issues in the life sciences and medicine. Established in
1972, the Center is engaged in education, research, consultation, and
publishing to promote and safeguard the dignity of the human person in
health care and the life sciences. The Center is unique among bioethics
organizations in that its message derives from the official teaching of the
Catholic Church: drawing on the unique Catholic moral tradition that
acknowledges the unity of faith and reason and builds on the solid
foundation of natural law.

The Center's staff consults regularly on life science issues and medical
issues with the Vatican, the U.S. bishops and public policy-makers,
hospitals and international organizations of all faiths. Vatican agencies
including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical
Academy for Life and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers consult
with the Center to help formulate magisterial teaching.

The Center publishes two journals (Ethics & Medics and The National Catholic
Bioethics Quarterly) and at least one book annually on issues such as
physician-assisted suicide, abortion, cloning, and embryonic stem cell
research. The latest publication is an update of its Handbook on Critical
Life Issues, which examines such topics as the theology of suffering,
euthanasia, organ transplantation, and stem cell research.

Inspired by the harmony of faith and reason, the Quarterly unites faith in
Christ to reasoned and rigorous reflection upon the findings of the
empirical and experimental sciences. While the Quarterly is committed to
publishing material that is consonant with the magisterium of the Catholic
Church, it remains open to other faiths and to secular viewpoints in the
spirit of informed dialogue.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. is a member of the advisory board of the
Catholic Education Resource Center.

Copyright © 2006 Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

God bless,

Lisa Alekna
from Massachusetts
lanat@rcn.com
May the Lord give you His peace!