Reason & Worldviews -- Outline

Submitted by Suchi Myjak on

Class date: 10/21/18

Reason and Worldviews

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!”
~ Jn 8:32

“The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground.”
~ C.S. Lewis

Opening prayer

Video: God's Dream for You

Discussion: God's Dream for You

  • Questions:
    • What do you think God is like?
    • Have you ever made the connection between holiness and happiness?
    • What is the purpose of rules?
    • Putting today's video together with that, how would you connect the “rules” with God's dream for us?
  • Matthew Kelly is basing all this on a particular worldview.

What is a "worldview"?

  • A set of core ideas / beliefs.
    • A "story" that frames how we view everything else.
    • The “Big Story” or “Narrative.”
    • Or as a lens through which you view the world.
  • Which kind of worldview is better? Which kind of worldview would we want to hold and build a life on?
    • Based on all available evidence or selected bits?
    • Relies on real data or unsupported assertions?
    • Reasons on that data to arrive at conclusions or relies on feelings?
    • Argues about ideas or persons?
    • Is self-consistent or self-contradictory?
    • Rationally engages criticisms or shuts down debate?
    • Bottom line: truth or ideology?

Summary

A sound / healthy worldview will have all these qualities: A broken / invalid worldview will have one or more of these qualities: Based on all evidence Selected evidence / ignoring or denying evidence Relies on real data (facts) Relies on unsupported assertions Reasons on that data to arrive at conclusions Relies on feelings (about data or whatever) Argues about ideas Argues about persons Is self-consistent Is self-contradictory or inconsistent w/ itself Rationally engages criticisms Uses name-calling, shouting, shutting down Bottom line: it is true (agrees with reality) Bottom line: ideology – resistant to reality

Aside: There's a rumor out there ...

  • Who created modern science?
    • Christians – often clergymen
    • The Church financially supported more of the development of science than anyone else.
  • Why was it Christians? Why the Church?
    • Science rests on certain metaphysical assumptions
    • that are part of the Christian understanding of the world
    • The Greeks did study nature, but were limited by their philosophies
  • Far from fearing reason, the Church is one of its strongest defenders!
  • Superstitious? No way!

“Practical Propaganda” vs. Reason

“The trouble about argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground. He can argue too; whereas in really practical propaganda of the kind I am suggesting He has been shown for centuries to be greatly the inferior of Our Father Below. By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result?”
~ Screwtape, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

(Discuss quote. Invite students to try to spot the "practical propaganda" that post-modern culture uses in place of reason.)

Worldviews: Post-Modern “Nightmare”

Here are some of its components: That God doesn’t exist, or if He does, we can't know it, but anyway, He doesn't work in the world. That life has no objective meaning or purpose. That we can't know what's true. That there is no right or wrong, and therefore no good or evil. But also, and at the same time, some religions are evil, Christianity in particular. That people have rights that it is wrong to violate. But also that those rights only exist if most people agree. That choices that feel good cannot have bad consequences. That individual persons should be completely free to make their choices, but others are responsible for protecting them from any bad outcomes. That persons are defined by their demographics but racism is wrong. That the NARRATIVE trumps facts.

(Discuss inconsistencies in the above, and go through several examples that demonstrate denying evidence, relying on feelings, etc., all showing that it's an invalid worldview.)

How to prop up a broken worldview

  • Replace discarded evidence with ideology and feelings
  • Make certain ideas toxic to prevent questioning the false conclusions
  • PC Word Police
  • Proclaim the virtues of adherents (especially the ones they don't have!)
  • Attack, attack, attack!

OK, that’s not a healthy way to live, but what’s the alternative to the nightmare?

The Christian Big Story

The Christian Big Story is that God works in the world, through history. That He loves us and wants us to be happy. That life has meaning. That we have purpose. That we can know right from wrong. That reason is good, and more important than emotions in finding the truth. That truth exists and we can find it. That people have intrinsic rights that others might violate but can never take away. That each person is an individual with his own thoughts, desires, not defined by membership in any demographic group. That individual persons have dignity, worth, and rights regardless of anyone's opinion. That choices have consequences. And that individual persons are responsible for their choices. That REALITY trumps belief.

First off, is that self-consistent? (Yes!)

Is an action bad because of its consequences?

  • Two different things:
    • the reason for a teaching, and
    • the consequences of disregarding it.
  • Example:
    • Abortion is wrong because killing an innocent human being is always wrong
    • And because abortion is wrong, it has bad consequences.
  • It's not the bad consequences that make abortion wrong, but the other way around: abortion has bad consequences because it is wrong.
  • (Scientific Fact: a baby is just as much a human being before birth as after)

Let's consider three examples of Church teaching that directly oppose the culture.

Example 1: Abortion

  • Abortion has many bad consequences for women.
  • And that's not considering
    • deaths of babies due to abortion (57 million in the US since Roe v Wade)
    • nor the impact on fathers, siblings, and other relatives
  • Wrong choices have bad consequences – even when you don't fully realize they are wrong.

Example 2: Contraception

  • Back in the '60s, the contraceptive pill was relatively new (and proponents had high hopes for it)
  • A document written in 1968 disagreed, making the following predictions:
    • “Conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.”
    • the man will lose respect for the woman and will come to "the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment and no longer as his respected and beloved companion."
    • It would place a "dangerous weapon... in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies."
    • It “would lead man to think that he had unlimited dominion over his own body”
  • But are married people more satisfied than they used to be, as the culture claimed? (No)
  • A prophet? Who was it? (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae)
  • More info: Have Humanae Vitae's Bold Predictions Come True?

Example 3: Divorce

Statistics on divorce and consequences:

  • The American divorce rate is almost 2x what it was in 1960
    • though fewer get married to begin with
    • Almost a quarter of American children experience their parents' divorce by age 12
  • Children raised in intact married families:
    • are more likely to attend college
    • are physically and emotionally healthier
    • are less likely to be physically or sexually abused
    • are less likely to use drugs or alcohol or to commit delinquent behaviors
    • have a decreased risk of divorcing if they get married
  • Children living with a single mother
    • are > 4 times as likely to live in poverty
    • 14 times more likely to suffer serious physical abuse (even worse in some circumstances)
  • Even in high-crime areas, the vast majority of children from stable homes do not become delinquents.
  • Divorce is particularly hard on children emotionally. (Book resource.)
  • Bad consequences – a clue that divorce is not a good thing.

(Clarification that when Catholics use a "civil divorce" to protect themselves or children, that does NOT dissolve their marriage. And that I am not judging divorced persons. For one thing, the person might well be an innocent spouse who didn't even want it in the first place.)

Scoreboard

  • We've looked at two worldviews:
    • Each makes specific claims.

Christian

Post-modern

  • Whether you agree or disagree,
    • Which one is consistent?

✓

✗

    • Which one is coherent?

✓ coherent

✗ incoherent

    • Which offers helpful guidance on moral issues?

✓

✗

      • Abortion?

✓

✗

      • Contraception?

✓

✗

      • Divorce?

✓

✗

Why do worldviews matter?

What is the result of a bad worldview?

  • Not just mistaken about some abstract thing but wrong about reality itself
  • So they are also more likely to be unhappy
  • And make poor choices thinking they are fine ones
  • Reality just isn't that forgiving.
  • Flight from reason and reality can't do anything to solve real problems.

Bonus -- if we have time

Two brief Matthew Kelly videos: "Be a Rebel" and "Decision Point." You might find it odd to hear, "Be a rebel!" at church, but really -- it's good to rebel against the culture and choose freedom instead of slavery.

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2018 Class
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reason
worldview