LUCIFER, THE FIRST LIBERAL

The Wanderer Press ^ | March 2003 | ARTHUR M. HIPPLER

[NYer]

Lucifer, The First Liberal

 

By ARTHUR M. HIPPLER

In his encyclical on The Nature of True Liberty (Libertas Praestantissimum), Leo XIII makes the remarkable claim that liberalism is diabolic in its origins. "But many there are who follow in the footsteps of Lucifer, and adopt as their own his rebellious cry, I will not serve; and consequently substitute for true liberty what is sheer and most foolish license. Such, for instance, are the men belonging to that widely spread and powerful organization, who, usurping the name of liberty, style themselves liberals" (Libertas Praestantissimum, n.14). Although the Holy Father’s comparison may seem hyperbolic, nonetheless the principles of liberalism mirror the Devil’s original revolt.

  While many political opinions and projects are lumped together under the name of liberalism, we should remind ourselves of its most fundamental basis. As Leo XIII explains, liberalism begins with the rejection of both natural and divine law; the "followers of liberalism deny the existence of any divine authority to which obedience is due, and proclaim that every man is the law to himself; from which arises that ethical system which they style independent morality" (LP, n.15). Morality comes neither from God nor human nature.

  For the liberal, morality is created by the free choice of society. Whether one studies Hobbes or Rousseau, one finds no law higher than the human law. In the words of Pope Leo, "just as every man’s individual reason is his only rule of life, so the collective reason of the community should be the supreme guide in the management of all public affairs" (ibid.). This divorce of the moral law from politics affects our understanding of democracy up to the present day, as Pope John Paul notes in Evangelium Vitae (n. 70).

  This rejection of God’s rule through the moral law is the sin of Lucifer. As St. Thomas explains, the Devil rejected the law of God for a disordered form of freedom: "The end of the Devil is the aversion of the rational creature from God; hence from the beginning he has endeavored to lead man from obeying the divine precept. But aversion from God has the nature of an end, inasmuch as it is sought for under the appearance of liberty, according to Jer. 2:20: ‘Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst, I will not serve’" (IIIa, Q.8, art.7).

  This rebellion was imitated by our first parents, when they decided to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil, and "be like God." While sharing in the divine image and likeness is part of our perfection, St. Thomas teaches that man desired this divine likeness in a disordered way by eating of the forbidden fruit: "The first man sinned chiefly by coveting God’s likeness as regards knowledge of good and evil, according to the serpent’s instigation, namely that by his own natural power he might decide what was good, and what was evil for him to do" (IIaIIae, Q.163, a.2). Here is the liberal principle in its first expression: Man alone should decide good and evil apart from God.

  While many understand liberalism as a freedom for certain political equality and civil rights, more fundamentally liberalism is a freedom from the moral law and the teaching authority of the Church. One cannot speak of "Catholic liberals" without contradiction, or at the very least, equivocation. Liberalism, like socialism and Communism, has been condemned by Pope after Pope in the social encyclicals. If we are tempted to minimize the evils of this error, we would do well to remind ourselves that Pope Leo XIII presents Lucifer to us as the original liberal.

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  (Dr. Arthur M. Hippler is the director of the Office of Justice and Peace in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis.)

[NYer]

While many understand liberalism as a freedom for certain political equality and civil rights, more fundamentally liberalism is a freedom from the moral law and the teaching authority of the Church.

In an increasingly liberal (or as they prefer to call it, "progressive") society, this article underscores its origin.

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[Cap'n Crunch]

Bump! Great read, and very true.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Loyalist]

(Dr. Arthur M. Hippler is the director of the Office of Justice and Peace in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis.)

The diocesan office of justice and peace (known by many different names) is usually staffed by aging liberation theologians for whom Christ was the proto-Marxist.

Who was asleep at the wheel when Dr. Hippler got hired?

[Salvation]

** While many understand liberalism as a freedom for certain political equality and civil rights, more fundamentally liberalism is a freedom from the moral law and the teaching authority of the Church.**

Fantastic quote!

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Love the title of the post. How true.

[dsc]

"Remarkable?" "Hyperbole?"

Not in my view. Statements of fact.

[DouglasKC]

The article is dead on. Liberalism manifests as selfishness, the exact opposite of Godliness...

[oprahstheantichrist]

"There is a way which seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death."

-Proverbs 14:23 and Proverbs 16:25. (Apparantly The Lord thought it so vital he repeated it verbatim.)

[TradicalRC]

This is something that I have sensed for a while now. This article is very good in its precision and brevity. "The wise man's understanding turns him to his right; the fool's understanding turns him to his left." -Ecclesiastes 10:2

[TradicalRC]

Evil succeeds so well because it focuses on one aspect of the good (liberty) while encouraging behavior that is evil (licentiousness). Liberals scream about greed while indulging in envy, they scream about violence and indulge in perverse sexuality. The bible recognizes that violence and sexual license are two sides of the same coin. Held in check by self-restraint, buttressed by religious and societal restraints, once those bonds are loosed on one end they will be loosed on the other. While certain individuals may indulge in sex but not violence, societies generally do not. The only liberal that I am aware of that recognized this truth was the Marquis de Sade.

[mdmathis6]

Judas:"should not that perfume have been sold, and the money given to the poor"(Judas being the KEEPER OF THE MONEY BOX)See the liberal pattern here?

Jesus" She was anointing me for my burial!"

Judas Iscariot, the archetype Liberal, the Donahue of the Apostles who indirectly was questioning Jesus' integrity. Who the scripture describes as Satan "entering into him", on the night he betrayed Jesus with a kiss!

Yeah...I would say the article was right on equating Liberalism with Lucifer. I expect the Anti-Christ will enter into the world espousing ideas all Liberals and World Government freaks will just love.

[HumanaeVitae]

Although the Holy Father’s comparison may seem hyperbolic, nonetheless the principles of liberalism mirror the Devil’s original revolt.

Prophetic statements often seem hyperbolic.

[HumanaeVitae]

Held in check by self-restraint, buttressed by religious and societal restraints, once those bonds are loosed on one end they will be loosed on the other

Excellent analysis, and well written. For those who haven't noticed, I've been waging my own private jihad against libertarianism on FR for a while. It is the successor to the collectivist liberalism prevalent in the 20th Century.

[TradicalRC]

Sorry. I haven't been here long enough to notice. I just have vague "friend or foe" categories for those whose posts I read. I have a great love for the libertarians (they're at least Honest liberals) having been one in my dark past. But yeah, they're still as secular, humanist and immanentist as the collectivist liberals. Collectivism is just a decadent idea of a community and individualism is merely a decadent idea of a person.

[Triple_R]

I think that this is an apt description of SOCIAL liberalism, but not really an apt description of FISCAL liberalism. There's a considerable difference between the two - a difference as great as between a non-religious libertarian like Ayn Rand, and a devoutly religious conservative like President Bush.

I find that fiscal liberals are, at least, genuinely well-intentioned and more than willing to serve.
Social liberals, however, tend to despise laws, and the very notion of moral absolutes. They really can be "me-first!" type people, and morally bankrupt.

[wideawake]

Thanks for this interesting article.

I feel compelled to quote from (the High Church Anglican) Samuel Johnson: "The first Whig was the Devil."

[NYer]

Amen!

Yes, I recognized much of today's church in that article.