In this age of numerous polemics against “political correctness,” “Social Justice Warriors,” and “Cultural Marxism,” Catholic philosopher Daniel J. Mahoney has composed a masterful critique of the intellectual roots that nourish these phenomena. More specifically, he leaves no doubt that an authentic critique of these phenomena is incomplete without an understanding of how they all represent the “religion of humanity.” Mahoney, a professor of political science at Assumption College in Massachusetts, demonstrates that this faux religion is actually an ideology that dates back to Auguste Comte. In a collection of essays that discuss the ideology's famous defenders (Comte, Pope Francis, Jürgen Habermas) as well as opponents (Orestes Brownson, Vladimir Soloviev, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Aurel Kolnai), Mahoney takes aim at the dangers this secular “idol” poses to civilization as we know it. Given his vast scholarship on liberalism, including studies of its most perceptive critics (such as Solzhenitsyn) and defenders (such as Raymond Aron), Mahoney brings an impressive expertise to his subject. His study also offers our time some much needed good news. For this idolatrous religion, which was forged by human hands (as the Bible reveals about all idols), can be overcome with faith and reason, as he shows.
First, we need to understand the nature of the threat this religion presents. The “humanitarianism” it promulgates is in fact not humane at all. According to Mahoney, a cruel and dishonest relativism forms the hollow core at the twisted heart of this pseudo-faith:
A cursory reflection shows that humanitarianism subverts Christianity and the moral law and leaves nothing but confusion in their place. As a result, relativism coexists with limitless moralism. This is the most striking feature of the modern “moral” order. Left-wing humanitarians and “progressive” churchmen spout on about “social justice” as if opponents of doctrinaire egalitarianism hate the poor or support social injustice. But they never really tell us what “social justice” is or what the adjective adds to the noun. The taking of an unborn life is merely a “choice,” which is, one assumes, completely beyond good and evil.
Read Full Article »