Revisiting "Evangelicals & Catholics Together"

Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of Commentary and Opinion ^ | 10 April 2005 | Teófilo

[Teófilo]

In light of current developments, this joint manifesto needs a new impetus.

Beginning in September 1992 a consultation of Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians began discussions regarding the "Christian Mission in the Third Millennium." In 1994, the Consultation published a joint statement outlining Evangelical-Protestant and Roman Catholics on a variety of issues of common concern in the journal First Things. The list of participants and endorsers is quite impressive, and includes many notable Catholic and Evangelical Christians. This is my favorite quote from the Joint Statement:

We Contend Together...In this country, too, freedom of religion cannot be taken for granted but requires constant attention. We strongly affirm the separation of church and state, and just as strongly protest the distortion of that principle to mean the separation of religion from public life. We are deeply concerned by the courts' narrowing of the protections provided by the "free exercise" provision of the First Amendment and by an obsession with "no establishment" that stifles the necessary role of religion in American life. As a consequence of such distortions, it is increasingly the case that wherever government goes religion must retreat, and government increasingly goes almost everywhere. Religion, which was privileged and foundational in our legal order, has in recent years been penalized and made marginal. We contend together for a renewal of the constituting vision of the place of religion in the American experiment. Religion and religiously grounded moral conviction is not an alien or threatening force in our public life. For the great majority of Americans, morality is derived, however variously and confusedly, from religion. The argument, increasingly voiced in sectors of our political culture, that religion should be excluded from the public square must be recognized as an assault upon the most elementary principles of democratic governance. That argument needs to be exposed and countered by leaders, religious and other, who care about the integrity of our constitutional order...

...The pattern of convergence and cooperation between Evangelicals and Catholics is, in large part, a result of common effort to protect human life, especially the lives of the most vulnerable among us. With the Founders, we hold that all human beings are endowed by their Creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The statement that the unborn child is a human life that-barring natural misfortune or lethal intervention-will become what everyone recognizes as a human baby is not a religious assertion. It is a statement of simple biological fact. That the unborn child has a right to protection, including the protection of law, is a moral statement supported by moral reason and biblical truth. We, therefore, will persist in contending-we will not be discouraged but will multiply every effort-in order to secure the legal protection of the unborn. Our goals are: to secure due process of law for the unborn, to enact the most protective laws and public policies that are politically possible, and to reduce dramatically the incidence of abortion.

It seems to me that the Catholic-Evangelical Consultation must meet again and evaluate how their action plan has been carried out in the last 10 years, and what political and legal inroads their call to action has made to oppose successfully the Culture of Death's juggernaut.

In light of the killing of Terri Schiavo, the death of Pope John Paul, and the often sour opposition from Protestants apologists who do not recognize the Catholic Church either as a Church or even as a Christian body, what have we achieved together since this Statement came to light? What remains to be done? How do they answer the critics? Most importantly, how do we get involved?

I think that Christian interfaith cooperation is vital to stem the tide of Nietzschean amorality washing over this country, but you can blame my utter provincialism if I say that I still don't see anything concrete deriving from this bold manifesto. Where's the beef?

- Read Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium at First Things.

[mistystar]

I think I understand why you want America's faiths to join, but I cannot agree with you. I feel that problems will arise for those "outside" of the venture. It seems to me to be a "us-vs-them" mentality. I personally would rather see individual religions kept prominent.

[Teófilo]

Well, like I said, I too have questions. Then again, there has to be a space in which we could cooperate and it might as well be the space defined by this Joint Declaration. -T.