A Sound of Sheer Silence

As I write this post, Pope Francis is here in these United States, tooling around in a Fiat .  Commentators have offered a number of angles to explain his choice of vehicle, such as the Italian connection, its fuel efficient characteristics, its small size, etc.  All of those likely have something to do with it, but I think one dimension is that Pope Francis, in a gentle way, is trolling his critics.  "Oh yeah?  You don't like the fact that I don't fit into your preferred image of the Pope as the Great and Powerful Oz?  Well, here's some more of what you don't like, courtesy of a cute Italian compact car and my smiling face inside." If Francis is trolling his critics, it appears to be working.  About six months ago, Ross Douthat predicted in the New York Times that Pope Francis's embrace of distributive justice-oriented positions and environmental concern would be taken in stride by the economic conservatives among the Catholic commentariat.  "[T...

Lest one thinks that the worshipers of The Market exist only on CNBC and on Wall Street, here's a devotee from liberal San Francisco .  This individual finds it objectionable that he has to come in contact with homeless people on a regular basis, and is offended that they don't "view themselves as guests" in the "civilized" areas of town, i.e. the parts he lives and works in. This dude apologized (in classic politician fashion, but nonetheless he apologized), but his friends of Facebook chimed in to cheer on his original thoughts. Notice the last line of his screed:  "Believe me, if they added the smallest iota of value I'd consider thinking different . . . ."  That's the heart of it right there.  Value to whom?  Value to this guy?  How does one define value?  Certainly not in terms of some inherent human value, that much seems pretty clear.  No, he means economic value.  To what extent is this particular homeless man or woman offering ...

Everyone has a religion.  Oh sure, they may not call it a religion.  They might call it a philosophy, or a cause, or a political program.  But, at the end of the day, it is a religion.  It has a set of ideas that are at the heart of how that person views the world.  It has a set of beliefs about what is right and what is wrong.  It has saints and sinners.  It is functionally no different from Judaism, or Christianity, or Buddhism, or whatever. There is a religion that is very popular in America (and other places, but particularly in America) that, until recently, has flown under the radar as being a religion.  Partially, this is by design--it cloaks itself in other forms that make it hard to discern its true identity.  It is ensconced in university departments and professional schools, where is portrays itself as a "social science"--as if it is simply describing the objective realities of the world, as opposed to advancing a particular visi...