Stem Cells and Shadow Boxing

by David A. Wemhoff

We hear over and over about the secularists, and the liberals, and those who want to allow for this or that, all of which is against our beliefs. That which we believe has been formed by the Roman Catholic Church as it teaches the Roman Catholic Faith. Whether it is abortion, women’s rights, homosexual rights, contraception, taking Christ out of Christmas, or striking prayer to Jesus in the State House, we are told that it is the liberals, the secularists, or some other amorphous group, that is pushing an agenda that is “un-Christian”. At some point, we come to the realization that this worldview which creates this liberal/secularist category is flawed because things never seem to get better. The editor of this magazine has called this situation, the one in which we find ourselves in 21st Century USA, as the “Whig view of history” while others have called it “shadow boxing”.

There are a lot of problems with not accurately identifying one’s temporal enemies. An initial one is that you call your own identity into question. Another is the failure to accurately analyze the social and political dynamics of the day. Without honest analysis of the situation and the opponents, you cannot expect to win at anything...

When we ascribe to this “shadow boxing” view of dealing with enemies of the Faith, the Church, and all that is decent and right, it follows that our passion for the fight is diminished, our tactics are muted, and our will is weakened.

Perhaps what is most nefarious about this whole situation is the elevation of these “secular” beliefs to a level of respectability. These beliefs become institutionalized as legitimate viewpoints that people can have and hold, all to their own and to society’s detriment. Opposing these ideas can only be within the boundaries of the pre-ordained limits of discourse. In other words, conservatives oppose liberals. Faith communities oppose secularists. Traditionalists oppose progressives. What does it all mean, you ask. It means this is how we are all controlled—we create our own illusion of doing something when in reality we are just running in place.

...Once you buy into the modern day Construct, you’ve lost...

And Catholics, by and large, have submitted to this "construct"...And we have let others set the terms of the debate - on nearly every issue. Mr Wemhoff cites one of the best examples as that of embryonic stem cell research.

A very interesting article.