“This is how practical atheism works. It does not deny God but functions as if God is not central. We see this approach not only in moral theology but also in liturgy. Sacred traditions that have served the Church well for hundreds of years are now portrayed as dangerous. So much focus on the horizontal pushes out the vertical, as if God is an experience rather than an ontological reality.
How should faithful Catholics respond to these challenges? Cardinal Sarah first called on bishops in the United States to speak out clearly and courageously in defense of the faith and the centrality of Jesus Christ.
Go here to read the rest. If you act as if God doesn’t exist, what you utter with your lips is rendered meaningless.
“One must live the way one thinks or end up thinking the way one has lived.” Paul Bourget
Thank God for Cdl. Sarah. Pray for Francis.
One might argue that “practical atheism” was around even back when God’s chosen people rejected His son, because they wanted an earthly king.
Mark:
I think Aristotle beat him by several centuries in that comment.
The Cardinal is spot on. Our Lord is ignored in the voluminous wordy documents constantly issuing forth from the Vatican these days. Sin is winked at and secular concerns have priority. Our Lord is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Where ,O Lord, is Your Church and holy shepherds to guide us to union with You and to heaven?
I think if we actually saw the state of the world, where God has been pushed to the periphery then we would all die with shock. The ailments we have today are a result of God being rejected. It was man’s first sin where Satan asked Adam – don’t you want the knowledge which God possesses? We live in dangerous time. Cling to the Faith and Our Lady.
It’s a small step from practical atheism to practical satanism…
As in a month’s celebrations the worst of the seven deadly sins combined with a rebellion against natural sex, natural law and of course God.
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Seems a modern form of deism, the original form erroneously attributed to many of our founders who were actually more Unitarian in belief if not actual membership.