Denver Catholic

9 DENVER CATHOLIC | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2020 which no Catholic would be able to speak in public without being con- demned for the intolerance of "impos- ing their values" on others. This is how Catholics integrated into the main- stream of American life. H OW P R I VATIZ I N G R E L I G I O N H A S H U R T CH R I S TI A N S When reason was elevated above religious faith, even if the arguments for doing so seemed valid, the die was cast. Not only have Christians been less comfortable referring to the authority of Revelation or Christ himself in public discourse, but the privatization of faith has gradually eroded the confidence of Christians to oppose the state when fundamental human values are in peril, such as the sanctity of human life. This isn't to suggest a juxtaposition between the two, but just the opposite. Rightly understood, both Christian faith and reason make important contributions to public life and originate from the same source, God. By allowing secularism to privatize faith, we have allowed our voices to fade into the background of politics. Or worse, we have adopted the Enlighten- ment idea that faith is a private matter and should not influence our politics. As we imbibed this misunderstanding of how our faith was to be practiced or lived publicly, we have become a people that refer to ourselves as Christians but give no weight to our beliefs as a serious element of our politics. Have you ever wondered how the Nazis came to power in Germany, a pre- dominately Christian nation? How did Communism take over Russia, another Christian nation? How did abortion get legalized in America? In each case, the Enlightenment ideas of secularism kept Christian voices marginalized from public life. To this day, American Catholics remain politically divided over many moral issues on which we should be one. Besides our fragmented witness, many of our leading Catholic politicians have not only privatized their Christian con- science, but even rejected some essential Helios: Ancient Greek god of the sun Torch: Enlightenment symbol of reason Symbolism Matters Our Lady of Guadalupe appears as the woman in Revelation: "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet… she was with child" (Rev 12:1-2). The sun and the moon, considered gods by the natives, appear under her reign: she eclipses the sun god with the true God in her womb, who is symbolized with the native symbol of the four-petal flower, which represented the highest god. Watch video, October 2nd, mtyr.org Libertas: Roman goddess of liberty If you want to read more about the history of the Statue of Liberty, check out the book Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty by Elizabeth Mitchell (or watch on cspan.org).

• Cover