TO?THE?EDITOR:
The bishop encourages our citizens to enter into debates concerning the burning issues facing our community, our state and our country as a whole people rather than a spirit-less people.
In doing so, he urges us not to be fooled by the fallacious argument that we must analyze an issue with only a partial set of the intellectual gifts God has given us, removing from the analysis our moral sensibilities. How can I possibly hope to evaluate such choices as capital punishment or homelessness or the grounds given for going to war unless I educate myself about the political and social and moral implications of the causes and consequences of such human acts? When I form an opinion on society's treatment of the unborn or the aged in our community, must I draw only on my education as a developmental biologist and deliberately exclude from the calculus of my decision-making my education in moral theology or ethics? Should those heroic Christians who resisted the rise of Nazism in Germany, or Lech Walesa who opposed Polish communism and Soviet hegemony have abandoned their efforts because their views were "tainted" by a deep belief in the inestimable value of each individual, born at least partly in deeply held religious beliefs? There are some who have demonized Bishop Tobin in the media and oppose his right to speak on the moral issues facing us because he was not a democratically elected leader in our community; does it then follow that we should also ignore the Dalai Lama's pleas for the rights of the Tibetan people because he too is unelected? How absurd!
I hope and pray that we continue to form our opinions and make our choices about moral issues by tapping all the resources God has provided us, both secular and spiritual.
Father Mark Nowel, O.P., Ph.D.
Associate professor of biology, dean of undergraduate and graduate studies, Providence College
