Regensburg 5: Conclusion, February 17, 2007

As we approach the beginning of Lent, this Wednesday, we conclude our series of reflections on the Pope’s Regensburg Address. This leaves for us only the final pages of it in which the Pope summarizes his thoughts.

He admits that what he has tried to do has been ‘painted with broad strokes,’ which is to say, that he has given a subject worthy of a more lengthy treatment a rather brief overview. The Holy Father is sensitive to the fact that some people may take his insistence on the necessary relationship between faith and human reason as a call to go backward in time, to return to a more primitive frame of mind, as if to live in the past where religion once played a greater role in the life of the educated man. He immediately comes forward to assert that the positive aspects of modernity must be acknowledged. Everybody ought to be grateful for the advantages of living in this period of history with its many benefits. But, the point not to be lost in our satisfaction with these pluses is that in order to be completely honest the religious dimension of life cannot be slighted or summarily dismissed. Truth is not limited only to scientific facts based on the observations derived from experimentation. There is another dimension of truth that the thirsting intellect craves besides empirical science. This concerns what is beyond the physical–name the meta-physical–and the specifically religious aspect of truth. Yes, truth must include God! To deny this is to negate a component that’s integral to humanity (even though an atheistic stance refuses to acknowledge it). The fact is that the greater part of the human race has exercised some form of belief in God. One cannot say that it is only the ignorant and uneducated who are believers, since the facts do not point in that direction. Believers are not restricted to any particular class of men. What’s needed then in the fields of learning (which include the universities and of the experimental sciences) is that reason be given its full and complete scope, that is to say, that religion be accorded its rightful place. This means that faith must be included in subjects for study, and not be considered as merely a set of subjective preferences or emotional exercises. When faith becomes a component of the quest for truth we have the eminently respectable science called theology. (By the way, if I may, I’d like to air a gripe about the word ‘theology.’ This is not a high-class synonym for studying the catechism or for general religion education. Theology is a post-graduate study that ensues once the rigors of philosophy have been mastered. It’s the rightful domain of the intellectually adept who also have supernatural faith. So there! I’ve now made my complaint about every parish that graces its very elementary–and sometimes even silly–religious classes with the designation ‘theology.’)

Back to the text. Why is this topic so important, that is, the relationship of faith and reason? The Pope says it clearly. It is because today we are being forced (of necessity) to enter into a dialogue of various world cultures and religions. ¿Need we be reminded that the present state of war in the middle east has a religious backdrop to it? In our own part of the world–the West–we have often given up on faith in favor of being modern, that is to say, scientific and thus un-religious. In the Middle East, however, religion is a vibrant and motivating aspect of life. Those peoples are indignant over the all-too-common unbelieving posture of the West. Since this is the case, how shall the twain–East and West–meet? The common thing cannot be a facile and false attempt to reconcile the incompatible creeds of, say, Islam and Christianity. Honesty forbids this kind of dissembling. Pretending that the differences don’t exist wont help our present crisis. What’s needed is the application of the mind, man’s common inheritance, to search for solutions to our global problems. Evidently, on our part, we need to enter the arena of discussion by admitting that religion is indeed a valid part of human life–the most important part in fact.

As you know, it has become for us an impolite thing to speak publically about religion or to act religiously before others. While we would certainly acknowledge that there’s a time and a place for everything and that prudence must be our ever sure guide in all matters, this necessary caution must not forbid religion its rightful place in academic circles and in the political arena, nor in the public forum altogether. If we deny faith, we deny what is essentially human; but if we deny reason, we also dent what is essentially human. To act reasonably is to be in accord both with our own human nature and with the nature of God who is logos.

Saint Paul writes that we already bear the likeness of the earthly man, that is to say, that we already have a human nature as descendants of Adam. But, he adds, we also hope to share the likeness of the heavenly man, that is, Christ. By fidelity both to our human dignity and to our religion we’ll be able to achieve the perfection of our nature: the attainment of beatitude. But that’s the final benefit. Among the more proximate advantages of this double integrity of faith and reason is that we will be able to live peaceably here on earth among men of good will. This was the gospel’s message sung by the angels on Christmas night: with the coming of Christ there can be peace among men of good will. The partnership of faith and reason then has happy benefits both in time and in the world to come.

The whole human race would be wise to heed carefully the message Pope Benedict XVI gave on that historic day last September at Regensburg.