NOVEMBER 2008 REFLECTION by

Deacon James Zakowicz, O.C.D.

RENDER UNTO CAESAR           

October was Respect Life Month and November will find us voting our consciences – hopefully.

Recently in our Sunday Gospel, we heard the Pharisees ask Jesus a trick question:  “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not? (cf. Mt. 22).  This seems like a harmless question to us modern taxpayers.  We know that taxes help build schools, pave roads, feed the poor, and provide many other services that we cannot offer as efficiently as individuals or small groups.

Jesus’ dilemma is that if he says “yes” he will be branded a Roman collaborator; he’ll be siding with the enemy oppressor and will not be a friend to the Jews.  On the other hand, if he says “no” he will be seen as an enemy to the Romans who would claim that he was advocating that his followers not pay their taxes; he will be killed as a traitor.  Jesus escapes the Pharisee’s trap with simple advice: 

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

The tricks we face as citizens today are semantic ones.  The architects and minions of Culture of Death twist language to make it seem as though those of us who live with the conviction that life and family are precious are insensitive to the supposed rights and freedoms of others.  Nowhere is this more obvious than on the issues of abortion, euthanasia, and so-called “same-sex marriage”.

Proponents of these sins use euphemisms like “Freedom of Choice,” “Right to Die,” and “Committed relationship” to trap the unreflective into thinking that they might be guilty of the worst of all sins in the eyes of relativists – intolerance. 

But let’s not be fooled.  Many of the arguments used by the anti-life crowd are often formulated as false dilemmas.  A classic example of this logical fallacy is the question:  “Do you still beat your wife?”  No matter how you answer, the assumption is that you did beat your wife.

Our freedom can never be used to limit the freedom of another.  As individuals created by God, we do not have the right to end the life of another person who, like us, is made in the image of God.  All girl and boy embryos among us have the right be born naturally into a family that consists of a mother and a father and should be free to live out their natural lives without threat.

In his new book, Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Charles Chaput addresses our obligations as Catholics in political life. 

“People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith…. for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of human dignity.  Christian faith is always personal but never private.  This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge at home but need to be quiet about in public, will always fail.”

Do not allow yourselves to be tricked by scare tactics or false logic.