THE LAW OF THE LAND by Fr Francis Marsden                     29 November 1987

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
‘If we (Catholics) ever tried to use the law to impose our view of religion or morality, we would run the risk that some day they might force their views upon us... If it is the duty of Catholics to forbid abortion, even if other faiths deem it permissible, why not also forbid birth control and divorce?’
Thus spoke Mario Cuomo, Democrat Governor of New York, when the Catholic bishops objected to his failure to support the pro-life movement in the USA.
The key question is how far should Catholics try to enact their morality as the law of the land. Should we support or campaign for laws against abortion, euthanasia, adultery, divorce, the sale of artificial contraceptives, homosexuality, witchcraft, Satanism, slavery, child labour, blasphemy etc?
How should morality and the law be connected?
Obviously not every sin could be made a criminal offence, every bad temper or jealous thought. We don’t want the Thought Police and the Inquisition combined, yet some more serious sins —murder, theft, drunken driving — are made criminal offences. Others are not, but should they be?
Catholics are often accused, when they try to enshrine their moral values in law, of imposing their laws upon society. In a democratic society, Catholics have as much right as anyone else to make their viewpoint heard.
They have the right to convince others to see things their way. Like anyone else, they should have the right to be listened to fairly and without bias.
If it were possible to have a set of laws based on Catholic morality in Britain, would that actually be an imposition on others? Certainly some people would see it as such. Then mill-owners saw the banning of child labour as an imposition. Slave traders regarded the abolition of slavery as an imposition.
However, because Catholic morality is in fact God’s law, the ‘natural law’, it in fact applies to all people, not just to Catholics. It is the law written deep in the heart of every man and woman, though often obscured by sin. Natural law is not something alien imposed from outside. It is the God-given principles written in the depths of our human nature.
The morals taught by the Catholic Church are not just for Catholics. They are the truth for all humanity. The Church teaches that actions like those listed above are sinful because they damage and pervert human goodness. They are not sins ‘just because the Church says so’.
The only true meeting point for any democratic and human society is in the natural law, which promotes the common good. When we deviate from the natural law, we produce more injustice and unhappiness.
The natural law is most fully expressed by the Catholic Church, as God’s spokesman to the world. She has had 2000 years of divine revelation and human experience to illuminate her judgments, which is a great deal more than any of our modern states and institutions.
Hence, a part of working for justice is to inspire the laws with the Catholic spirit, with truly human values and principles. Mario Cuomo ignores the reality that other people are already imposing their morality upon everyone by promoting abortion, sexual deviancy, unjust economic systems or whatever.
If Catholics do not try to model legislation upon known moral truths, others model it upon their moral untruths. Thus injustice is institutionalized - injustice against the unborn child, against marriage, against the family, against starving nations.
Anyone who holds deep convictions works to have their values enshrined by law. The Communist works for the overthrow of capitalism, abolition of private property, state control of the economy, the suppression of religion.
The liberal humanist sees freedom and pleasure as the supreme good. He works to remove restraints upon sexual behaviour. He legalizes contraception, divorce, adultery, blasphemy and so on.
Both communist and liberal humanist work to persuade their fellow citizens to see life their way. They think that theirs is the way to a happier and just society. However, because their laws are not God’s laws, all their efforts end in worse injustices, more unhappiness, than the problems they set out to tackle.
If Catholics believe that their morality is God’s law, they should be prepared to make even greater sacrifices to see God’s truths enshrined as law, for the protection and deeper happiness of all in society.
Any belief system needs to be incarnate in laws.
As Catholics, we cannot opt out of the law-making process in the interest of a false pluralism, which opens the floodgates to bad laws, injustice and exploitation.
It is reasonable, nay necessary, for a Catholic politician to fight against abortion, contraception, adultery and divorce. However, there is a right time to tackle each one. Public opinion may need educating first.
Normally a society prohibits what it feels is seriously wrong. The Protestant majority in the USA banned contraceptives for all citizens until 1931. Correctly, they believed they led to immorality and promiscuity.
Recently in Thailand, a tiny Catholic minority was influential enough to persuade the Buddhist majority against introducing abortion.
TRAGIC CASES
One would not use the law to enforce religious beliefs. We must respect freedom of conscience here. Though I suspect most people would draw the line at witchcraft, Satanism and some brainwashing cults.
Last year in Ireland, the Church opposed the introduction of divorce. This was because divorce does not make for a more just or happy society. It weakens the family and increases the marriage breakdown rate. It worsens the very problem it attempts to solve. People treat marriage casually and give up too easily.
We all know there are tragic cases of marriages gone wrong. We would like to be compassionate. The Church has always recognized legal separation. However, allowing remarriage undermines all the good marriages. Hard cases make bad laws.
Remarriage might allow 5% of the population to lead happier lives in this world. It may undermine another 15-20% of marriages which would have held together but now break up. The God-given natural law states the overall best for everyone, the common good. Yes, it does fall hard on some, but that will be the case whatever law we have.
In Britain, so many of the laws which protected family life have already been abolished. At the same time, we rightly have more laws about wearing seat belts, road safety, health and safety at work. We perceive immediate physical dangers. However, our society has tunnel vision. It fails to realize the longer term moral dangers when family life decays and the right to life is denied. . From abortion and infanticide, to euthanasia and genocide.