Rush to judge my book
Scores of nasty e-mails have torn up Why Catholics Are Right. Good
Last Updated: April 16, 2011 2:00am
My new book was published last Tuesday. I knew the title Why Catholics Are Right (McClelland & Stewart) would be provocative, but I did not realize just how intolerant our allegedly pluralistic, multicultural, liberal society had become.
Jim from Calgary sent me this e-mail even before the publication date: "To claim that your religion is right is not only ridiculous, but also you are a fascist."
I wrote back that he was obviously confusing me with the author of Why Fascists Are Right — advice, never joke with a madman — but suggested what he was really saying was I was wrong and he was right. Which was fair enough, but surely rather exploded his argument. If I believe something, I believe it to be right. You don't have to agree with me, but you cannot deny me the freedom to believe.
He wrote again. "There is no such thing as right or wrong, you moron." I replied: "So what you are saying, I suppose, is that when I speak of right and wrong, I am wrong."
No more responses from the Albertan philosopher. But at least he was not particularly rude. As I write this column, at the end of the first week after publication, I have already received 78 e-mails containing swearing, threats and general abuse.
Which makes me incredibly happy. Indifference hurts, anger from enemies is proof of triumph. Having said this, there have been just as many generous letters, many of them containing stories of discrimination against Catholics that shocked me. And I assumed I was experienced in the hypocrisies of Canadian bigotry where Christianity was concerned.
The book is at heart a defence and explanation of Roman Catholicism. An introductory chapter about the nature of truth, followed by Catholics and the abuse crisis, Catholics and history, Catholics and theology, Catholics and life, and Catholics and other stuff. Eighty thousand words written to give anti-Catholics heart attacks.
Abuse? Vile and tragic. The numbers, though, were almost identical to any institution with a power relationship between adult and youth, such as sports teams, schools, and so on. It concerned around 2% of clergy and was sometimes dealt with badly but seldom maliciously. Just as abuse was dealt with badly but not maliciously in other religious and secular bodies at the time.
History? You know the usual litany of tired attacks. Crusades, Inquisition, Galileo, Holocaust. None of these criticisms stand up to scrutiny, and they are generally anachronistic and ill-informed. Theology? What Catholics believe, and why they believe it. Papal infallibility, celibate priests, transubstantiation, to name just three.
Life? No, we're not obsessed with abortion, we are passionate about the sanctity of life. The arguments for the unborn and against euthanasia are more scientific and logical than they are religious. Other stuff? All sorts. There was not a female pope, The Da Vinci Code is silly, animals do not have rights in Catholic teaching, and so on.
It's a book of ideas at a time in history when people often prefer feelings to facts. I can't change them, but I can force them to think a little. Much more interesting than the leaders' debate!
— Read Michael Coren's blog at canoe.ca/corenscomment
