The Critical Race Theory is Unjust

[Music] the father and of the son of the holy spirit so today team grace we're going to conclude our discussion on contemporary issues you recall that we've discussed life issues and human dignity immigration the common good the lgbtq movement and complementarity the environment and stewardship today i wanted to discuss law and justice these have become prominent themes in our civic discourse and it's important that we know as christians how we approach these questions of law and order now we conclude our series of contemporary issues today next sunday is all saints the feast falls on a sunday so i'll be preaching about all saints and then after that during november which is the month of the dead i want us to come back to end of life questions we addressed it briefly in our series but because this is an area of particular attack by the culture of death and because it's so important that we as christians understand where we stand on these areas on november 8th and 15th i'll be preaching about end of life questions so again we have that clarity it's important for us to know that there are strong and dark forces in every state seeking to legalize legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia over 18 states have some variation of that law we are vehemently opposed to this as christians who acknowledge the dignity of every human life so the 8th and the 15th we'll talk about that november 22nd is the feast of christ the king definitely talk about that feast day and then we enter advent advent by the way is when we leave matthew's gospel when we start mark's gospel during the season of advent we're going to talk about the three major virtues of the christian faith hope and charity so that's the summation grace of what we're going to be reviewing over the next couple of months but let's dive into this question of law and justice first as we approach this topic let's look at our gospel reading today our gospel is clear the lord is clear that we are to love god with all that we are and to love our neighbor now this means that we have to involve and engage a culture of mercy we know as christians that a culture of mercy that mercy is not simply the forgiveness of an offense mercy also involves kindness acceptance a warm and welcoming spirit and selfless love mercy is broader than merely forgiving someone because of an offense in order to love god and neighbor we as christians are called to create this culture of mercy now within that culture of mercy let's go back to that forgiveness of sins because it is a part of mercy how are we to understand the forgiveness of sins specifically in relation to justice now contrary to popular views and it's abundant the biblical view of justice shows that it is not opposed to mercy but rather mercy fulfills justice if justice is not fulfilled then mercy is lacking and becomes mere permission what the scriptures call licentiousness to do evil with no consequences and that is not mercy mercy fulfills justice incidentally dear friends this is why our lord had to die on the cross in order to fulfill justice so that mercy could be generously offered the lord's mercy is not cheap it came at a high price and the fulfillment of justice but then what is justice plainly put dear friends justice is giving to another person what is their due it's an important virtue to give to another what is their due what is due to them now justice is punitive in terms of discipline prosecution and penalty but justice is not merely punitive justice has a positive expression as well so it's not simply if you do something wrong there should be discipline there's actually a positive aspect of justice that builds up the common good for example when i was a young priest in parochial vicar in aitkin south carolina a local neighbor decided to allow us to use his field for the elementary school children to play their sports he gave us the field at no cost they could use it however they preferred well the children went to the field and they trashed the field so the neighbor came and complained to the pastor the pastor did what most pastors do he sent to poker vicar so i went i had to apologize to the neighbor and then i had to go and follow up with the children and i said to the children children do you realize that this person is our neighbor that he's a good neighbor that he loaned us his field at no cost so that you can learn how to play sports and player sports and you went and you trashed his field that's not justice he was due a reciprocity a return for his kindness that means we take care of his field we make sure that his field is as good or better when we give it back than when he first gave it to us that is justice justice the giving of a do whether that's in punishment or discipline or whether that's in an outreach a return of kindness justice is a powerful virtue these two dimensions of justice they're needed for a healthy society but we must and we must respect both the positive and the punitive in order for a society to flourish so from justice this very important virtue a society forms true and just laws it's important that we understand that term we use it a lot as catholics a just law it means that a law has been passed that respects justice so that law must be obeyed those who have good consciences must obey the law it's a just law now in contrary we speak of an unjust law an unjust law is one that has been legislative passed legislated passed and could be binding in terms of punishment but it's unjust those who have clear consciences must disobey that law must have civil disobedience because that law does not respect justice it's unjust now a society that's truly civilized only is society is only truly civilized only to the degree that its laws reflect justice that they have just laws and that these laws are equally applied to everyone because we know that justice is supposed to be blind justice does not worry about our gender or our race or our socioeconomic status justice is to be blind martin luther king summarized this truth when he said that he wanted his children to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character justice is blind it doesn't recognize race it simply assesses actions and so as we reflect on justice and true laws we have to draw attention dear friends to a popular influence in our society and in our culture i speak specifically in our world today of the return of the critical theory now this is a popular view in the beginning of the 20th century and it kind of faded away but it's returned the critical theory tells people that they are defined solely by an attribute by their gender their race their economic status or by a lifestyle the working class or the lgbtq the theory then seeks to rally a group based on the identified trait it tells the group with the attribute that it is a victim and is being oppressed and that the only way can be truly liberated is by completely overturning the entire social structure that the theory claims is oppressing the identified group this is a dangerous theory in our day the critical theory is focused on race critical race theory tells people that they are only identified they are only truly persons by the color of their skin and it claims that everyone who is not a part of this racial group or any institution that was not founded by members of this racial group is inherently racist it is oppressive and is unjust now please note the theory tells us that just because we are not the member of a specific racial group we are therefore de facto racists critical race theory is an unjust theory that leads to chaos and reverse discrimination the theory inverses justice using the name justice while betraying and undermine the very substance of true justice this is the theory that is behind the lie of systemic racism it is the philosophy behind the black lives matter incorporated and by antifa imagine if i were to say to this section of the church all the women in this section you are oppressed and you are being victimized and everyone else in this part of the group because they're not women therefore are sexist and you must get rid of them you have to overthrow them why would a theory do that this is a marxist theory dear friends it's the philosophy behind communism communism despises democratic and free societies this is a philosophy that is used to purposely cause tension within society so as to overthrow not only democratic government but to overthrow organized religion this is a dangerous theory that has found a wide reception here in the united states as christians we are opposed to the critical theory right to the critical theory and to critical race theory and its claim of systemic racism since we judge people by their actions we judge laws specific laws and specific state of affairs unlike this wayward theory we don't look at a person's skin color we look rather at the content of their character we look at specific actions laws and state of affairs we don't paint broadly with a wide brush for example here are a few examples of undressed laws historically the anti-semitic laws of national socialism which led to the holocaust these were unjust laws po passed by a legislative body they were unjust and they should have been disobeyed by people of good will and they were and many of those heroes died in the concentration camps themselves or we can look at the segregation laws in our own country they were bad laws telling one person one group because of their race they could not participate in the public services that another race could have these were unjust laws and they were overturned they motivated the civil rights movement and we changed society or perhaps in our own day we look at the abortion laws in which society tells mothers that they can kill their children in their most vulnerable stage and we say that that is a just law but it is a lie that is an unjust law that is to be opposed by people of good will we are to refuse these laws and pray for the quick overturn of roe v wade these are unjust laws they violate justice they do not give to another what is their due now here are some examples of justice naming and fixing unjust laws when i was a child living in west germany my father served in the military now we were in the cold war i didn't know what that meant cold war east west i thought every school child had armed guards on their school bus i thought every neighborhood had a 1030 curfew with military police and german shepherds right that's just life but growing up in west germany my parents took advantage of the opportunity to take us to certain historical places in order to learn history one of those places was the courthouse in nuremberg you might recall that in 1948 the civilized nations of the world convened a court in nuremberg in order to put on trial the leaders of nazism and the leaders of nazism claimed that they were only following the law they were doing what they were told the civilized nations of the world denounced that and said there are times in which we are called to be martyrs you cannot hide behind an unjust law in order to slaughter the innocent and the civilized nations of the world executed the vast majority of the nazi leadership because of their unjust actions their racist actions here's another example when i was in high school i had to read dr martin luther king's letter from a birmingham jail i'm grieved to hear that high school students don't read that anymore i hope that all of you have read the letter from the birmingham jail if for no other reason because he quote saint thomas aquinas one of our saints go catholics right but more importantly because dr king in the letter from a birmingham jail it was a letter he had to sneak out while being imprisoned for his protest he had to sneak out portions of the letter in the letter he talks about justice in a healthy society he talks about unjust laws much of what i preached today dr king summarizes in a letter from in the letter from a birmingham jail that letter went on to motivate the civil rights movement and we saw a civil movement a social movement overturn unjust laws and change society as christians if there is racism we name it and we seek to overturn any expression of racism we do not unjustly can't claim that an entire system or that everyone outside of a specific group is racist this is unjust we cannot injustice claim that someone is a racist or violating justice simply because they are not the member of a designated victim group as christians as christians and people who love free society we should be very cautious of the critical theory it is a marxist principle again the philosophy behind communism which despises the roman catholic church and it is purposely used to create tension within society and to overthrow democratic government we have seen this historically and to undermine organized religion make no mistake about it dear friends the critical theory is evil as a clear violation of true justice as christians we are vehemently opposed to this theory again we judge people by their actions we judge specific laws or state of affairs when there is something unjust we change them we labor we protest we pray we seek to change that specific state of affairs that law or we seek to change this person we cannot unjust to say simply because someone is not of a group of specific gender or race that therefore they are racist or sexist that's unjust unjust to the dignity of every human person dear friends i hope that this review of justice and law has been helpful to you overall i pray that this series on contemporary issues has been helpful to you and the formation of your conscience so that each of us wherever we might be can seek to do to be kind to do justice and to walk humbly with god and that every day from the depths of our heart we might offer god truly our five loaves and two fish

Channel: TAN Books

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Keywords: catholic, christian, ewnt, god, jesus christ, holiness, salvation, prayer, devotion, religion, hope, faith, society, culture

Id: cj6OyNU23pA

Length: 16min 31sec (991 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 28 2020