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THE QUESTION
Religion a Private Matter
In his speech to U.S. bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted . . . To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul." Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on April 23, 2008 5:15 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Church, State and the British Balance
We need faith to be both private and public, and we need to be less precious about how we define where faith fits. If we are truly people of faith, it colors all that we do.
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on May 2, 2008 7:55 AM
Pope Looked Outward, but Not Inward
While the Pope looked outward and made several very accurate structural criticisms of society, he never looked inward and made similar criticisms of his own hierarchy.
Posted by John Dominic Crossan, on April 27, 2008 2:13 PM
Mixed Reactions: One Jewish Perspective
The integration of religion fully into our lives, including the need to use it to address the great moral issues of our time, is something to which Jews can strongly relate.
Posted by David Saperstein, on April 27, 2008 12:17 PM
Internal Faith Should be Externally Expressed
The Question: In his speech to U.S. bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted . . . To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it...
Posted by Leith Anderson, on April 27, 2008 11:08 AM
U.S. Shows How in Public and Private
The liberal notion that religion must always be treated as private is mistaken.
Posted by Daisy Khan, on April 27, 2008 10:11 AM
Benedict's Choice Is No Choice
The phrase "private matter" means, "Don't go off on your own." And faith losing its soul is code for a familiar theme to lay Catholics: without the Mother Church you are lost.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on April 24, 2008 2:12 PM
The Public Nature of the Human Soul
Religion that stays private, that does not cry out to heaven when fundamental human dignity is violated and does not take this struggle into the public square, is soulless religion.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on April 24, 2008 1:38 PM
No and Yes to Benedict XVI
There's a touch of irony and good humor in the fact that this pope, warning against privatizing religion, is himself a very private, inwardly oriented, Christian.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on April 24, 2008 12:19 PM
Half-Stepping Religion or a Whole Gospel
My belief is that any religion that focuses solely on the individual is a stunted religion.
Posted by Gardner Calvin Taylor, on April 24, 2008 11:58 AM
God in Public -- The New Challenge of Our Times
Clearly we are facing quite a new moment. Whereas in the 1990s people were buzzing about Who Was Jesus, today the key question seems to be, how do we 'do God' in public?
Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on April 23, 2008 8:58 AM
Pope Benedict And The Soul of Power
First, he was saying that the church and its members must live out their faith by engagement in social issues--not only by personal piety. As a secularist, I have no problem with that.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on April 23, 2008 7:27 AM
Faith Must Be Shared
The suggestion that faith should never escape the boundaries of one’s own heart and mind is a kind of selfishness, an unwillingness to share the greatest news ever proclaimed.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on April 23, 2008 6:37 AM
Benedict Couldn't Have Said It Better
As a Baptist, I say three cheers for this Pope.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on April 23, 2008 5:06 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
sally: A religious journey does not require the use of the feet, but of the soul. The individual soul. The responsibility of obtaining insight and ...
Aquarius`: The Archbishop of Canterbury has a good essay on this.
(can't post a link to it - it's on his site address, slash 1759. Title is 'The Spiri...
