From
the dawn of creation, reason has been the urstoff and
constant of humanity. In the present age, reason is facing an unreasonable
political and economic maneuvering in such a way that a reasonable humanity is
almost eclipsing. The integrity of reason should not be sought in pragmatism
and economic power but in conscientious reasoning. Josephat
Muhoza, a third year theologian in x-raying the
colossal unreasonability of our age, beckons humanity
to right reasoning and right conscience.
The eighteenth century was known as the
age of reason.
Our friend Descartes went to the extent of believing that he could discover one
simple universal principle of medicine from which one could deduce every
possible cure. Indeed, Descartes stated that he was, as long as he could think:
cogito ergo sum. It was also a general principle that it is
possible to reduce all thought process to a digest of three or five or ten,
simple propositions, which would serve as a guide for life, especially morally.
The categorical imperativeof Immanuel Kant was an
attempt in that direction.
As
Industrial revolution ushered in, and consequently colonialism, greed for
self-enrichment blinded the minds of people and reason started to fed away. No
one was ready to face reason that refused to treat another human being as a
means to achieve ones end. Slavery had been abolished basing on humanitarian
reasons, but colonialism could not be rejected on the same basis. Some nations
considered it their duty to “civilize, and develop” other nations.
This was, in my view, the beginning of discarding reason. Unfortunately even
many religious people were carried in this bandwagon of
“civilizing” other cultures. Some even considered it a God-given task!
Today globalization,
originating in the ideology of pragmatism, is speeding in the same direction.
There are many signs of even worse kinds of unreasonable economic and political
policies being imposed for the poor of the world to observe for the benefits of
the rich and those who have military muscles. Gone are the days when the
charter of the United Nations that “All human beings are born
equal” applied to all human beings of our planet. Today, they are equal,
those who say, “yes” to the mighty of the
world! What the sole superpower says is true, even if it is clearly
nonsense. We are going back to Transmachus’
world of “the mighty is
right”, which is totally deprived of reason!
All
these are the result of refusing to live according to our nature. We are tired
of reasoning and proving things. Emotions and feelings decide what should
happen, provided that what I want happens. Bishop Fulton Sheen has this to say
on this phenomenon of fright from reason:
“Today
reason has fallen into discard. No advertiser proves that his product is good;
he merely affirms that it is. No automobile manufacturer argues that his car is
better than any other; he has more ballet dancers floating around it in
gossamer worshipfulness. Today cars are sold by men on horseback through the
medium of television. A woman is seen doing dishes in a mink coat; no woman in
a kitchen is over thirty; cigarettes are smoked only by girls and boys in
love-all these inanities are part of the conspiracy against reason.”
This
being the case, it becomes next to impossible to convince modern man of the
importance of being reasonable. We are teaching our children to be
unreasonable, because whatever works must be right. That is the belief of
pragmatists. Nobody bothers for whom that which works, works. Nobody cares in
which environment does what works work. This pair of
shoes is good because the football star is seen wearing shoes similar to this.
This president is a dictator because the president of the mighty state of the
world said it yesterday on CNN. All schools in
In the area of politics,
it is better to be silent; reasoning has no importance whatsoever. Notions like
democracy and good governance, which used to have liberative
meaning, have come to mean the opposite altogether. Who can be convinced by
right reason that what is being advocated by western countries in
In
the realm of morality, things are even worse. Whose reason can tolerate a gay
bishop, who is going to stand on the pulpit and expound moral principles to
God’s people? In order reason to accept this, the meaning of what is
moral must be changed. Which God is going to be preached by a man who is
publicly proud to be gay? Is it the same God who incinerated the cities of
Sodoma and Gomora
for the very same sin? And this is what works, so it must be right!
By such acts we
are asserting that reason has no use any more and human beings can no longer be
defined as rational beings! Reason is something uncomfortable, fearful and even
hateful! Reason is something people who want to be famous should avoid by all
means! Constantly we are asserting in our acts that there is no difference
between other animals and human beings. May be that is “democracy”
extended to the whole creation!
Can
Christians afford to discard reason? In my view, Christianity, especially
Christian morality has validity and meaning as long as it keeps in balance
faith and reason. That is what has made Christianity, to be precise,
Catholicity, very strong! In all Catholic institutions, with some imperfections
as they may seem, one sees the operation of faith and reason in a well-balanced
proportions.
Reason helps people to believe better.
Moralists and religious leaders today, have
to guard themselves against this kind of running away from reason. There was a
time when Christianity saw reason as a danger to faith. It is my conviction
that moralists and religious leaders today should take it as their God-given
task to call people back to reason. It is time people understood that one who
tempers with nature, sooner or latter, will be punished. The experiences of
One day Socrates was arguing with Protagoras. Socrates told Protagoras
that nature warrants it that sons do not have sexual relations with mothers,
daughters with fathers, and sisters never get married to their brothers. Protagoras, a well-traveled philosopher, refuted Socrates
by saying: That is only a Greek convention; in
This is the point which modern human beings,
especially those claiming to be advanced economically do not like to accept. A
human being is a rational being. This means that every human being, together with
other operations of the mind, such as apprehension and some kind of judgment,
is distinguished from other primates by possession of reasoning capacity.
Reasoning is the activity of the mind by which it passes from a truth already
known to another truth not previously known. Being the super power of the
world, being a president, becoming a bishop or any other kind of influential
personality in a given society, does not exempt one from possessing and using
this capacity. In fact the more one goes higher on the ladder of social recognition, the more he or she is expected to use this
capacity more carefully and fully.
Basing on this
reason, it is unthinkable to stand in front of the world and declare to be a
Christian bishop and gay! It would equally be unthinkable to stand and declare
that one is a priest and at the same time is a public liar, or one who condones
injustices. For such situations to happen, and in fact, today things of that
nature are taking place, one must deny to be reasonable, which means to
renounce being a human being!
As persons
preparing to be pastors of the souls, we must learn to be reasonable in our
day-to-day words and deeds. It is clear that the challenge of being reasonable
is not a small one. It is “expensive” to live what one believes, to
do what one says and above all to obey reason in daily living. But, even Jesus
had to insist, “Do unto others what you would want them do unto
you.” For me this is the first precept of being reasonable. I know
that sometimes being reasonable means taking off one’s mask and facing
the shame of being naked, intellectually, morally or socially. But that is
the norm of humanity and Christianity; any leader, be it religious, social or
political, who has to be trusted, has just to do this, face “miss reason”
squarely. That is what Jesus did, that is what Nelson Mandela did and forced
the whites in
By Josaphat Muhoza, sds
