As Though There is No God
I would venture to guess that most people who are reading this are aware of a certain presidential candidate who said in many of his speeches that he is personally against abortion, but he could not bind his "personal beliefs" on those who did not share them. Whether or not you believe him to have been sincere, such a line of reasoning is not uncommon these days. When I was in pharmacy school, a professor told us in class that we should put vending machines for birth control in the schools. He said that, personally, he was against it but that our "professional duty" comes before our "personal duty." Later on during my residency, someone taught that we must "decide what we believe" about things but not assume that we were right nor impose our values on others. Still later after I began work, I remember telling a coworker that I would not dispense a morning-after pill, to which she angrily replied "You can't impose your opinion on others."
One day while watching some hospital drama on television, I remember one doctor on the show telling another that "You've got to keep your religion separate from your profession." I read a news article about a Catholic businessman who made the decision to "downsize" his company to increase profitability, putting many out of work. He was asked how he could justify doing this in light of his faith. His response was something to the effect of "This is business. It has nothing to do with religion."
What do all of these statements have in common? You could say that they are morally relativistic statements. That's true, but there is one specific element that runs through all of them that I wish to discuss here. In July 2004, I had the privilege of being at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship. He made one statement that had a profound effect on me, but it was so simple that I was ashamed of myself for not having thought of it earlier. He said that secularism was attempting to live life and run society "as though there is no God." This is what these statements have in common. If we imagine ourselves standing before God on Judgment Day and attempting to justify our actions by saying that we kept our "religion" separate from our work or other public life, a problem arises. Then again, maybe we are so used to hearing these kinds of things that we are desensitized to the problem.
The problem affects us in little ways that we may have come to accept. When I was a child back in the early 1980's, I remember that all stores except for certain necessities were legally required to be closed on Sunday. We knew that Sunday was the Lord's day and was, so to speak, not for commercial use. Now, most businesses treat Sunday as another work day. There seems to be little concern for having interfered with the sacred. Even in an office that isn't technically open on Sunday, you are likely to find several employees doing after-hours work to catch up. Those who stay home may be using the day to catch up on housework. How can all these things somehow be more important that obedience to the living God?
We also see this problem in the way we have relegated the duties owed to God to some side activity that we call "religion" or "personal beliefs" that are not worthy of any serious consideration in business, political, or any other life decisions. Take a look at the examples I put forth in the opening paragraphs of this article. I once had someone told me that we need to "change our religion to fit the times." I can't count the number of times that someone told me, in regards to faith, that one should do "whatever floats their boat." It seems there is little consideration for the fact that faith isn't about us. It's about a living God who is distinct from us. If he is not distinct from us, he could not have created us. If he is not the object of our faith, then going to church is a waste of time.
However, if there is an all-loving, all-powerful, living God who created all of us, then we owe him our obedience. We owe this obedience even when it might not be the most convenient thing for us to do. We owe this obedience in every aspect of our lives, be it our business or our personal life. God created everything. Therefore, everything is subject to him. The only alternative to this is to subscribe to the absurd idea that we, in the complex structures and organ systems of our bodies, are a product of chance. The God who is powerful enough to create us is no doubt much more intelligent than we are. Surely, he also knows how to reveal definite things about himself to us.
This is why we can't separate "religion" from any aspect of our life. This is why we can bind other people to the moral law, at least insofar as refusing to cooperate with their violations of that law. This is why we must go forth and preach the Gospel to all. There is a true and living God who has revealed himself to us. We did not make or invent him. He made us. We can't go on running our lives as though he didn't exist.