November 11, 2003
A NEXT POPE FOR THE NEXT CHRISTIANITY?:
The African Century? (Phillip E. Johnson, October 2003, Touchstone)
I was recently reminded of the importance of this new geography of religion when pondering the symbolic significance of the reception at Georgetown University's commencement ceremony in May of the Nigerian cardinal, Francis Arinze, who presides over the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican and whose name frequently comes up in speculation about the election of the next pope.According to reports of the Georgetown incident, Cardinal Arinze offended Georgetown's liberals when he referred disapprovingly in his commencement address to the negative effect on the family of contraception, abortion, infanticide, homosexuality, and euthanasia. These comments, especially the reference to homosexuality, inspired some students and faculty to walk out of the ceremony and produced continuing protests from the dominant factions of the Georgetown community, who evidently consider that it is for them to teach faith and morals to the cardinal, rather than for him to teach these subjects to them.
The symbolism of the event, including the protest, captivated my imagination. The last time a pope was chosen, it was a bold and marvelously appropriate step to choose a man from a Catholic country suffering under Communist oppression. This first Polish pope soon played a major role in liberating his own country and eventually in bringing a welcome end to the Soviet empire. In the very different conditions of today, it would be another bold and marvelously appropriate step to select an African pope, especially so if the man were a cardinal whose special expertise is in Christian-Islamic dialogue. Such a pope could make a fresh start in imposing much-needed discipline on wayward bishops and in calling Catholics and the rest of us back to the basic principles of family morality, which we often seem to have forgotten. If all that were to happen, I think it would not be many years before the climate even at Georgetown University took a sharp turn towards sanity and orthodoxy.
What could be more fun than listening to the Left try to attack a black Pope without being un-PC? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 11, 2003 6:21 AM
Can you Bork a Papal nomination?
Posted by: John at November 11, 2003 10:11 AMNope.
Posted by: Chris at November 11, 2003 11:06 AMI believe this is the same Phil Johnson who wrote Darwin on Trial and is a UCLA law professor emeritus.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at November 11, 2003 12:19 PMWasn't he at Berkeley?
Posted by: pj at November 11, 2003 1:33 PMOrrin:
What a great idea. Let's see how many leftist anti-African pope arguments we can come up with that would pass muster at a Manhatten cocktail party.
I'll start: "Just as Western society had to pass through a religious period on the road to enlightenment, so we should celebrate this proof Africa is emerging from paganism. This puts them at about 1450. Is it racist, though, to object that we in the West shouldn't be forced to revert to our theocratic past? I think not. By all means let us hurry Africa along the road to enlightenment with more UN aid programmes, but we must not be ruled by those of our black brothers captive to religious tyranny. But we must continue to sacrifice for our past oppression and lead them out of this heart of darkness."
Posted by: Peter B at November 11, 2003 1:51 PMPeter:
Of course many of Africa's problems are a function of helpful rational Marxists trying to help them skip to 1919.
Posted by: OJ at November 11, 2003 1:57 PMWith any luck, the Left will just write him off (accurately) as Sts. Athanasius and Augustine come back to life. Hopelessly retrograde figures from the dawn (sunset?) of the Dark Ages.
Posted by: Random Lawyer at November 11, 2003 3:07 PMC'mon--they've had no problem demonizing Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, or Peter Akinola.
Posted by: Brian (MN) at November 11, 2003 3:24 PMLook at the way the NAACP and other organs of the official Afican-American Community have lit out after Janice Rogers Brown.
Do you think that they wouldn't have at an African Pope? They wouldn't even blink.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 11, 2003 3:59 PM