In our highly politicized culture, sin is rarely discussed as a violation of God’s law. Even more rarely do we acknowledge sinful inclinations as the interior sources of sinful acts. Instead, we often reduce moral questions to political positions, confusing theological anthropology with ideology.
Authentic and orthodox Catholic moral theology, however, provides the conceptual clarity necessary to distinguish between inclination, action, and moral responsibility.
The judicial system offers an instructive example. So-called “hate crimes” are punished more severely than the same offenses committed without passionate motives. Institutionally, politically, and judicially, certain expressions of hatred are singled out as uniquely contemptible. One might imagine a defendant testifying, “Your Honor, I committed the crime, but not out of hatred. I acted coldly and without passion. I am a psychopath. Please reduce my sentence.”
Whatever one thinks of hate-crime legislation, it is at least arguable that crimes of passion reveal something recognizably human, whereas psychopathic violence reflects a deeper moral disorder.
Catholic theology teaches that original sin is the source of every sinful inclination. Every human being suffers from its effects. Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary were preserved from original sin; nevertheless, they willingly bore the suffering present in a fallen world—Christ redemptively through the Cross, and Mary through her unique participation in His suffering.
Each of us carries a range of disordered inclinations corresponding to the capital sins. Some remain mostly dormant; others dominate our moral struggles. Yet none is absent. Dormant inclinations are often the focus of temptation, as the Devil seeks to awaken them through occasions of sin. Claims of immunity from particular sins are themselves expressions of pride—and pride always precedes a fall.
Racist bigotry must be understood within this framework. It is a sinful inclination rooted in pride, and racist actions violate the demands of justice articulated in the Ten Commandments by judging persons according to racial characteristics rather than their inherent human dignity as images of God. This does not mean that noticing racial or cultural patterns is itself racist; nor does it exclude reasonable situational judgment in the Burkean sense—that is, prudential judgments guided by experience and context—provided such judgments do not lead to deliberately unjust treatment. Criticism of a nation’s policies is not necessarily racist.
Most people neither openly embrace nor consciously acknowledge racist tendencies. Occasionally, racism is explicit, as in organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. More commonly, however, racist inclinations are concealed and sometimes even rationalized, perhaps unconsciously, as moral virtue, as can occur in the misuse or abuse of policies such as affirmative action. In such cases, injustice may persist under the guise of moral progress. When policies classify persons primarily by race and assign benefits or burdens accordingly, they risk perpetuating precisely the racial injustice they claim to remedy.
Sinful inclinations are also obscured when they are publicly celebrated. In much of the Western world, June is designated as “Gay Pride Month”. Catholics who promote LGBTQ ideologies—including some within the Church’s hierarchy—often frame objections as vague “judgmentalism,” implying that moral critique itself is sinful because it presumes that individuals act upon disordered inclinations.
Yet the question remains unavoidable: why is disordered sexual pride celebrated in one domain of vice but condemned in others? We do not designate months for the celebration of gluttony, greed, or wrath. The selective celebration of disordered sexual desire (or lust) reveals a confusion about the nature of sinful inclination rather than its absence.
Every human being struggles with sinful inclinations in some form. Some are predominantly prone to arrogance, others to miserliness, and still others to sins of the flesh. The central moral question is not whether these inclinations exist—they do—but whether we acknowledge them honestly and resist acting upon them.
When people insist that they do not have “a racist bone” in their bodies, they reveal a serious deficiency in self-knowledge. Such claims implicitly deny the doctrine of Original Sin and misunderstand the nature of moral struggle. This denial is characteristic of a distinctly modern mindset, illustrated by familiar claims:
- If I had lived in the Old South, I never would have owned slaves, because I am not a racist.
- After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, I never would have referred to Germans as “Huns,” because I am not a racist.
- During World War II, I never would have used racial slurs to describe the Japanese, because I am not a racist.
- Had I lived near concentration camps, I certainly would have objected to the Holocaust, because I am not a racist.
Such assertions presume moral superiority detached from historical, social, and spiritual realities. They deny the effects of original sin, underestimate the power of cultural pressure, and overestimate personal virtue. Racist behavior, like all unjust behavior, is rooted in pride—the disordered belief in one’s own superiority.
It is sometimes said that a white supremacist is defined primarily by racism. More fundamentally, however, such a person is a “me supremacist”—one who believes himself superior to others. This disorder of pride is not confined to any race or ethnicity but is a universal temptation of fallen humanity.
Catholic organizations frequently promote programs aimed at combating racism. But opposition to racism—like opposition to wrath, lust, and avarice—is already central to the mission of the Church. Who needs another program?
Rather than investing primarily in sociological programs, we might more fruitfully emphasize integral confession, frequent reception of the sacraments, and faithful participation in Sunday Mass. Authentic conversion of heart, not ideological formation, is the Church’s most effective response to sin.
A renewed understanding of sin, sinful inclinations, and the effects of Original Sin would dispel much of the confusion and dishonesty in contemporary moral discourse. “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” I acknowledge my own tendencies toward pride and racial bigotry, as all fallen human beings do, and I strive to identify them, resist them, and refuse to act upon them.
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All violent crimes are “hate crimes”.
I get that, but I think it is not unreasonable to have a category for crimes intended to provoke or intimidate a group of people. The real mistake is to say that “hate crimes” only count as such if they are committed against a few special, government-approved groups. For example, Harvey Updyke should have been charged with a hate crime for poisoning the oaks at Toomer’s Corner, because he intended to antagonize the whole Auburn University community.
You think the Mayor of Minneapolis or the Governor of Minnesota will charge the people that disrupted the service at St. Paul’s with a “hate crime”?
Once you understand anarcho-tyranny, you will have no such expectation.
You think we’ll get a condemnation from the PhD Padre?
TPR: Absolutely correct. No, the PhD Padre went woke on us.
You might be surprised to learn that Auburn University is not in Minnesota.
When speaking of racism, I am reminded that when Nicole Brown Simpson and her male friend were brutally murdered, polls indicated that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans expressed the notions that OJ Simpson was innocent. That was almost as shocking as the murders themselves.
I lived in a black neighborhood then so I don’t know what the polls said. I do know what my neighbors said. They were tired of black men taking the blame, and that no matter what, OJ needs to go free as she probably deserved it.Sounds like that poll was just innocent or guilty leaving no room for she provoked him.
Humility month?
(“There, but for the grace of God, go I”.)
Thank you. I thought the same thing.
I appreciate this clarity on racism and sin in general. Our culture ( Satan) confuses us. We get confused on calling out a sin in recognition or are we being unrightfully judgmental? Are we being a racist or recognizing sin? It’s a messy world we live in.
While there’s no such thing as “race” there are still some racists.
What I’ve personally observed is that colour based racism has become more generational. Younger people care less about it and it’s not a barrier for marriage.
The old school racism was often more out in the open where people on the lower rungs of the social/income ladder needed a class below them to feel superior to. Or a scapegoat to blame for their circumstances and lack of opportunities. Some of that still applies today.
“While there’s no such thing as “race” there are still some racists.”
If there’s no such thing as “race” (and apparently, sex is indeterminate unless one is a biologist according to one jurist) then how was it that I sat in front of an HR thing and was told “you are not part of a protected class”. I should have said “yeah, actually I am, as I just turned forty and that is a category protected by the ADEA or Age Discrimination in Employment Act, you blithering imbecile”.
When I asked what was a protected class, the explanation-recited by rote-specifically listed certain races and excluded a category called “whites, not of Hispanic origin”.
Since the HR thing didn’t any familial or genetic information about me, how was it that it could categorize me as “white” and more precisely, “White, not of Hispanic Origin” by mere sight alone, but couldn’t determine my age?
I’m still digesting your declaration with a now three decade old article in a magazine called Runner’s World entitled “White Men Can’t Run”.
Or this gem from “King LeBron”.
“I went to an all-white Catholic high school. So, when I first went to the ninth grade in high school, I was also like, I’m not ****ing with white people. I was so institutionalized growing up in the hood, it was like, ‘they don’t ***k with us, they don’t want us to succeed,”
-The Shop, August 28, 2018.
People share differing combinations of DNA but “race” and eugenics are outdated 19th century junk science we need to leave behind. Just as we should move forward away from other social hysterias like transgenderism.
“People share differing combinations of DNA”
But the DNA is not randomly distributed. Native Europeans will never get Sickle Cell Anemia-or the resistance to Malaria that that gene confers if you get it from just one parent. I had a now retired wonderful co-worker who had no idea about this gene until her children presented with the symptoms. On the other hand she would almost certainly never have had to worry about Tay Sachs or Hemochromatosis.
Nor are Africans the same. Predominately ectomorphic Kenyans dominate marathoning but Nigerians are prominent in sports that demand short term speed, power and a mesomorphic build.
Pretending differences don’t exist among distinctly different groups may reached its pathological apotheosis when Dr. Nisha Verma refused to answer a question from Senator Hawley about whether or not men can become pregnant the other day, claiming she thought it was polarizing. I don’t give a damn where she received her medical degree, I’d never trust this “doctor”.
These differences have serious consequences. My boss is part Nigerian and realized his dark skin is adapted to more equatorial regions and is at risk for hypovitaminosis D, so in attempt to avert the myriad of health risks, cancer, diabetes, dementia, he’s taking 10,000 IU per day. On the other hand if I took my alabaster complexion to Nigeria, I might suffer consequences associated excessive exposure.
Viva La Difference!
Europeans absolutely can have Sickle Cell anemia. It’s not at all uncommon in Greece & other parts of Southern Europe.(They additionally can suffer from Thalassemia which is similar, I had a friend whose little boy was diagnosed with it & he had his spleen removed).
The Eastern slave trade passed the sickle cell gene on to all parts of the former Ottoman Empire & beyond to India & Saudi Arabia. Not a few British & other Western Europeans whose ancestors lived/worked in colonies have complicated ancestry & recessive gene issues too.
I agree that DNA is important to understand for inherited health issues but many of us have a number of ancestries going on & especially so in former colonies like the US. It’s something to be aware of but it doesn’t identify “race.”
Doing Dignity is a meaningful project. Evangelization and conversion are ongoing and never-ending challenges. Racism they say diminishes the dignity of the practitioners of that primitive craft. We need to pray for the conversion and wellbeing of the racists and their victims.
I can’t respect an essay like this that ascribes sin and blame for racism even if one might be “unconsciously” so. Really??? Sorry but I dont buy into the woke argument of systemic racism and everyone white is guilty even if you dont know it. My understanding about sin from a Catholic point of view is that it requires a knowledge that a certain act is sinful and that one freely choses to indulge in it anyway. Being “unconsciously” racist ( whatever THAT might be) doesnt appear to meet the criteria.
I think this topic has worn out it’s welcome and many of us are tired of being tarred as something we are not. At some point priests who continue to spout this nonsense will find themselves talking to empty pews. I am so glad that Father Pokorsky is far away in Virginia because I could not imagine going to confession to a priest who is assuming I am guilty of things I do not know I have supposedly done. I am sick to death of hearing from the constantly aggrieved crowd who have made a cottage industry of blaming their situation in life on others. I dont see any evidence of that ongoing racism in real life.
Once at a family gathering, someone asked our nephew (who is biracial) if he had ever been subject to a racial incident because of his color. My then 40-something nephew replied “never”. Al Sharptons of the world, go away.
LJ: When I hear reference to Al Sharpton my mind immediately averts to Tawana Brawley.
I wonder how much “Rev. Al”‘s spiritual guidance played in her conversion to Islam.
When you go to confession you do an examination of conscience and tell what your sins are; it’s doubtful the priest knows them already.
“Once at a family gathering, someone asked our nephew (who is biracial) if he had ever been subject to a racial incident because of his color. My then 40-something nephew replied “never”.
**************
That’s great news LJ & i think it’s going to be more & more the case as time moves on. Sometimes in the past though you could be skipped over or denied positions without necessarily being aware of it. Racism back in the day wasn’t just about overt incidents but about omission & exclusion.
We’ve made real progress in so many ways but we don’t seem to be able to rid ourselves of anti Semitism. It’s the one type of scapegoating that won’t go away.
We had affirmative action in our state, which is like reverse discrimination many times.
Racial profiling going on big time with our Latino community! No other word for it. It wouldn’t surprise me if we just celebrated our last MLK day. There are many who are trying to downplay black history and even some who deny the holocaust! Many of these same people claim to be Christians.
“There are many who are trying to downplay black history”.
Define “downplay”.
What do you mean by “black history”? How is “black history” distinguished from history without an ethic or racial adjective. Is there difference between history with other ethic racial adjectives?
Who is doing this? How are they doing this? When are are they doing it?
There is also the problem of making ridiculous claims like, “Michael Jordan was the greatest black basketball player of all time,” or, “Louis Armstrong was a great black musician.” Instead, “Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time,” and, “Louis Armstrong was a great musician.” They were great on an absolute scale, not merely on a scale limited by race or ethnicity.
Since MJ made Larry Byrd retire, he certainly has a claim on GOAT.
Bird, not Byrd. I had the Illinois defending 133 pound wrestling champ stuck in my head.
I would have had Sen. Byrd of West Virginia in mind. I lived in Huntington for several years, and there are tons of things in that state named for the former klansman.
I had the great pleasure of hearing Sen. Byrd play the fiddle at the West VA State fair years ago.He was doing that in the sheep barn if I remember correctly.
I know an older person who used to be in the Klan like Sen. Byrd was. It’s not attracting many members these days. Even back in the ’70’s the Klan was reaching out to Catholics for recruits because their numbers were dwindling.
James Connor: the usual spinmeister spewing the party line.
If by “racial profiling” you are talking about the ICE raids, you cant get arrested UNLESS you have committed a crime. NO matter WHAT your skin color is. And I daresay that in Blue states you wont get arrested at all even if you commit a crime. They have shown that they are not smart enough to figure out that criminality contributes directly to a decline in quality of living for your productive and law abiding citizens and makes life generally unsafe. Could account in part for why folks are fleeing those states.
Criminals would INCLUDE the so-called “innocent” illegals, who by virtue of the fact they came illegally are ALSO law breakers. Its true they are not a menace to society, and not a priority to arrest, but that doesnt make what they did ok. These people might have been left alone for some time, but for the fact that some get scooped up when ICE is forced to go into neighborhoods to arrest violent thugs and the worker illegals are standing right next to them. Then they get arrested too. For that they can thank the blue state politicos who think that by flaunting the law they are doing these illegals a favor. They are not.
This nod to reality: Although illegals came from more than 150 countries, the vast majority of them were from Mexico and central and south America, and China. So, you might want to see it as profiling if you are trying to push a particular leftist political narrative. The TRUTH is if 80 % of illegals come from Latin America, they will account for the majority of those arrested too. It may have conveniently escaped your notice but we did not have 20 million Irish flow through the southern border under Biden. They were mostly Latinos. Get it?
The remark about this being the last MLK day is absurd and not worth the time to refute.
… but, und this is a big but, we in the National Bocialist Party believe das Überleben muss gestammen sein mit der schneaky Armstrong-Jones. Historische Taunton ist Volkermeinig von Meinhead.
Others would tell me I’m “White Caucasian”.
My skin is not at all white as it is more a muted pink/orange. In the shadows of my face, you would find hints of muted blue and green tones. And my ancestors came from nowhere near the Caucasus Mts. My grandchildren have backgrounds that include: Scotch/Irish, Irish, English, German, Polish, Chinese, Filipino and Pacific Islander. What is their race? Let’s stop this insanity of thinking we can plug people into any “racial” group.
It is pretty silly, Father. “Caucasian” is an out dated relic of 19th century attempts at classifying human beings into distinct “races”. Mongloid, Negroid, Caucasian, etc.
Sorry, Deacon, not Father.
Calling legitimate physical differences “outdated” does not confer validity to your statement, no matter how often you repeat it.
If you said something on the “I wish these differences were ignored, because they seem to be a flashpoint for conflict”, that would be laudable. Saying they don’t exist requires the same mental gymnastics that now have us denying other biological realities.
Physical characteristics don’t equate to “race”. Nor do recessive gene issues. The ideology of human “Races” is outdated eugenic foolishness from Darwin’s era.
DNA is real & genetic health troubles are real but not unique to just one perceived ethnicity. People intermarry & share those genetic mutations frequently.
I suppose you have given up on outdated nations of nationhood that model everything after Britain and France? Surely it is absurd to put much value in outdated ideas like that, right?
I suspect your temporal snobbery is more selective than that, though.
I can’t tell if you were asking me that question but ancestry doesn’t make one any more or less a French citizen. That info is not allowed to be collected for a census in France. You’re either a French citizen or you’re not.
British citizens come in all varieties too.
I think nations having cultural identities & heritage is a good thing. Culture binds us together & is worth preserving. Colour doesn’t signify anything & paying attention to it just divides us.
That’s a racist comment! (Because it’s a race related topic, get it?)