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All lives matter
to God. |
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Catholic Psychotherapy |
Spiritual Counsels |
Books |
About CSF
Compensation for Injury |
To Condemn the World |
Three Conditions of an Act of Protest |
What is Not Protest |
For the Sake of Love |
A World Littered with Corpses |
A Quiet Refusal, Not a Public Protest |
Imagine |
The Real Battle
 HENEVER children are
hurt, for whatever reason, some part of them cries
out, “Stop, or I’ll die!” Then, through the tears, a
desire for some form of recognition and compensation
takes shape. A piece of food, a piece of candy, a piece of money—whatever
it might be—brings the teary, blurred world back into focus. Death fades
away and life resumes.
That’s the way it works
for children.
Therefore, even as adults, there
will always be a child-like part of us that seeks some recognition of our
pain and some compensation for any hurt we suffer. We will say, “Why
me? This isn’t fair!” We will feel like innocent victims being
persecuted by the world. We will point our fingers in
blame.
To Condemn the
World
Like Hamlet holding a mirror
up to his
mother,[1]
the person feeling victimized will seek to show the world its own face as
“evidence” that, he hopes, will condemn the world for its own
injustice.
Hamlet appealed to his mother,
lost as she was in her own vain deception, hoping that she would recognize
her sin. But where was his father? Dead, and seeking
revenge. Receiving small satisfaction from his mother, Hamlet therefore took
matters into his own hands. And so a play about
revenge ends on a stage littered with
corpses.
And so when we march in the streets
and in picket lines, whom do we hope will see us? Whose gaze do we seek
psychologically? Just as Hamlet appealed to his deceived mother, perhaps
we, frustrated with the injustices of the world, unconsciously appeal to
our own deceived mother—to Eve herself? And all the while we wage our
futile protest, holding up a mirror to the Mother of Disobedience, the devil
snickers in the background.
Where, then, is our Father? Well,
unlike Hamlet’s dead father, our Father is
everywhere, a living God, witnessing everything. What injustice can occur
that God has not already seen? And in His Passion and death, did not Christ
experience personally every injustice known to humanity? And did He not endure
all injustice with prayer, forbidding us to take
revenge?
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When he was insulted,
he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he
handed himself over to the one who judges justly. |
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—1 Peter 2:23 |
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Three Conditions of an
Act of Protest
Shakespeare was a brilliant writer who had
a deep understanding of psychology well before the development of psychology as a science
and an art. His play Hamlet looks deep into the human psyche and has much to say
about social behavior. In particular, the scene of Hamlet holding a mirror to
the face of his mother elucidates three fundamental conditions that characterize an
act of protest.
1. |
An act of protest draws attention
to itself. |
2. |
An act of protest aggressively makes
itself irritating to others. |
3. |
An act of protest makes a
demand on others. |
Thus we see that Hamlet drew attention to
himself by entering his mother’s private chamber; he aggressively caused irritation to
his mother by putting the mirror into her face; and he made the demand that in seeing
herself in the mirror she should “see” the immorality of her behavior and correct
it.
In a similar way, modern protesters draw
attention to themselves by massing in groups; they aggressively cause irritation to others
by chanting, damaging property, and harassing others; and they make demands on others for
social changes.
What is Not Protest
As one example, praying in front of abortion
agencies doesn’t fulfill all three conditions of an act of protest. The praying persons may
draw attention to themselves by kneeling on a sidewalk, but if they don’t block the entrance
to the agency and simply pray quietly they are not being aggressive or causing irritation;
finally, their prayers for the souls of the aborted children are not a demand made to the
abortion agency. It would be an act of protest, however, to hold up a sign saying “Wake up America:
Abortion is a Hate Crime” because that would be an aggressive, in-the-face irritation to agency
clients.
As another example, the pictures and comments on my
website are not an act of protest because they do not draw attention to myself since they are seen
only by those who freely visit my website; second, the pictures and comments are not aggressive
and do not cause irritation to anyone referenced because only the freely-visiting reader of my
website sees the images and comments; and third, the pictures and comments state facts but do
not make any demands.
Furthermore, simply pointing out fraud and lies—like
the little boy in the tale of
The Emperor’s New Clothes[2]—is
not an act of protest; the boy did draw attention to himself just by speaking out, but he did
not speak out aggressively just to cause irritation, nor did he make any demands. Likewise, it
is permissible to write letters or make other communication to address wrongs or injuries; these
things may draw attention to yourself, but you can speak in such a was as to avoid provoking
irritation, and you can make a polite request rather than a demand. Similarly, resigning from a job
at a Big Tech company because of its illegal censorship of conservative ideas would be
witnessing the faith, not protest.
For the Sake
of Love
Persons prone to protest, just like a
hurt and frustrated child, cope with life by trying to get others to change their behavior,
so as to make things more manageable for themselves. Persons of mature wisdom, however,
cope with life by patiently enduring suffering—without
hatred and without
anger—for the sake of
love itself: to be filled with love and to sow seeds
of that love in the world around them.
The agents of
evil, therefore, choose protest—and
terrorism—as their choice weapons, but
the humble and the just can say, “My help
comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm
121:2).
A World Littered
with Corpses
Therefore, if we choose to listen
to a living Father, rather than a dead one, we will learn to
pray, rather than protest. We will pray in
faith, trusting in divine justice, rather than take
matters into our own hands only to die in a world littered with
corpses.
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How long, O
LORD? I cry for help but You do not listen! I cry out to You,
“Violence!” but You do not intervene. Why do You let me see ruin;
why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there
is strife, and clamorous discord.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write
down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not
disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be
late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith,
shall live. |
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—Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4 |
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A Quiet Refusal,
Not a Public Protest
Even though Christians live in the
world but not of it, Saint Paul told us that Christians have an obligation to be
subject to civil authority, to pay taxes, and to give respect to whom respect is
due (see Romans 13:1–7). Nevertheless, there are limits to this respect. Still,
these limits should not be taken as an excuse to vent your anger
at God. For example, it would be a grave sin to protest and attack traditional
conservative values or the teachings of the Gospel because they don’t suit
one’s ideology of progressive liberalism. But when civil law interferes with
the peaceful practice of religion, then dissent can be justified.
This philosophy has its support
from the Old Testament. For example, in the book
of Esther we have the story of Mordecai who refused to kneel and bow
down to a king’s servant as if the servant were a god. In the book of
Daniel we have the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were
thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship the golden statue that
Nebuchadnezzar had made (Daniel 3:1–97). In the same book we also have
the story of Daniel himself who was thrown into a lion’s den for refusing
to follow a law prohibiting prayer to any god or man except the king (Daniel
6:1–29). In the book of Maccabees we have the story of the martyrdom
of a mother and her sons for refusing to eat pork in violation of God’s law
(2 Maccabees 7:1–42).
Moreover, we have the stories
of countless Christian martyrs. It began with Christians who refused to worship
the Roman emperor, and it has continued through the centuries with those
who suffered persecution and death rather than betray their
faith.
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Notice that the
directive here is not to protest laws contrary to the faith but to
refuse to follow any such laws imposed on us personally. Moreover,
even deeper than this is the fundamental Christian directive to live in
the world but not of it—that is, to refuse to participate in any aspect
of society that condones sin. Furthermore, Scripture makes it perfectly clear
what that price can be: persecution even unto death. |
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Imagine
Imagine if all Christians had a common
Christian identity and refused to engage in the wickedness of the world around them.
What if all Christians refused to support the fundamentally anti-Christian arts,
entertainment, sports, and
advertising industries? What if all Christians refused
to allow their minds to be corrupted by watching TV and movies? What if all Christians
refused to waste time playing video games and texting trivial messages? What if all
Christians lived chaste lifestyles? What if all Christians
refused to wear immodest clothes? What if all Christians
refused abortions? Think of the immense power that
Christian behavior could have in witnessing a genuine love for God in a world grown
cold with lust and hatred.
But now, sadly, Christian behavior has no more
power than the filth it wallows in. That’s why we are in the insane mess we’re in today.
That’s why so many families today are falling into psychological and spiritual
dysfunction. That’s why so many children have
fallen from the Church into the anti-Christian wasteland
of social doom.
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When I would bring about
the restoration of My people,
when I would heal America,
The guilt of Portland stands out,
the wickedness of New York;
They practice falsehood,
thieves break in, bandits plunder abroad.
Yet they do not remind themselves
that I remember all their wickedness.
Even now their crimes surround them,
present to My sight.
— see Hosea 7:1–2 |
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The Real
Battle
Every Christian has taken baptismal
vows to renounce Satan, to
turn away from evil and sin,
and to turn to Christ in chaste and holy service.
Therefore, every Christian, in everything he or she does—no matter whether
trivial or important—has an obligation to be a good and holy representative
of the Church to all of society. That’s a serious
responsibility.
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The real battle
of life is between Satan and your soul, not between
you and other persons. Have no doubts that Satan will tempt you through
others in every way he can, to induce you to lose your
patience, to fall into
hatred, or to defile
chastity. And God will allow him to tempt you,
as a way of strengthening and purifying your soul. The wicked are not here
for us to eradicate them; they are here for us to become saints in our
refusal to be like them. |
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You might believe that you have moral
standards to uphold in defiance of your political rivals, but the hatred in your
heart that calls for bullying, heckling, and harassment—and rioting and arson—makes
you a worse human than any of the persons you despise.
This shows that the ideology
of “social tolerance” is all a fraud and just a mask that hides deep
unconscious hate and anger. In fact,
the intolerance and hate behind the mask of tolerance is eerily similar to the Nazi
ideology such persons purport to reject.
Thus
we reach the ultimate irony that protesting the fraud of the world only makes
you part of the fraud. Using hate to protest anything only stains you with
hate.
So no matter how others bait
you, your responsibility is to act always in imitation of Christ
as a faithful and fruitful representative
of the Church. If you fail in this, then the enemies of the Church will just
sneer, and say, “See? Those Catholics are all just a bunch of
hypocrites.” You will be labeled a fanatic
and fall into ruin, and your enemies will be strengthened. Thus everyone
will lose.
If you
accuse someone of being a racist you are a racist.
If you
end up in hell because you try to fight the devil with anything other than
love, you will have no one to blame but yourself.
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Notes.
1. William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III,
Scene IV.
2. See Hans Christian Andersen’s tale,
The Emperor’s New Clothes.
The text of
this webpage, integrated with other material from my websites,
has been conveniently organized into a paperback book of 350 pages, including
a comprehensive index.
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Though Demons Gloat: They Shall Not Prevail
by Raymond Lloyd Richmond, Ph.D.
Though we are attacked by liberal activists from without and by apostasy
from within, the true Church—that is, the body of those who remain
faithful to Church tradition—weeps, and she prays, because she knows
the fate of those who oppose God.
Our enemies might fear love, and they can push love
away, but they can’t kill it. And so the battle against them cannot be
fought with politics; it requires a profound personal struggle against
the immorality of popular culture. The battle must be fought in the
service of God with pure and chaste lifestyles lived from the depths of
our hearts in every moment.
Ordering Information |
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