When I ponder the many conflicts currently raging in our culture, whether it be abortion, gender identity, sexual orientation, racism, or politics in general, the unifying thread of these fiery arguments is the fundamental question: Who is the human person?
While varying shades of nuance exist between the two fundamental answers to that question of anthropology, we can easily grasp the very different starting points which fuel the radically different conclusions embraced in this important argument about the nature of our humanity.
The individuated and atomized self
Secular, materialist, post-modern culture begins with the individuated and atomized self, asserting that each one of us has the right to define ourselves, to choose our own meaning, and to create our own reality.
Sexual fluidity serves as a prime illustration of this dynamic. Individuals today freely move from self-identifying as homosexual to pansexual to bisexual.
This assertion is not to diminish the very real difficulty which some people face in terms of gender dysphoria or sexual orientation, but it does speak to this perceived lack of objective definition concerning the human person.
This exaltation of the subjective, self-defined individual easily leads to an amoral willfulness.
Persons, ideals, experiences, and actions are only true, good, or worthy if one decides to bestow value on them. If the individual himself is the sole reference point of decision, then personal desire becomes the primary determinant of engagement in the world.
The assertion that there is an objective reality, a “givenness” to the human person is viewed as oppressive to freedom, a freedom defined as license.
This ideology is well expressed in the Supreme court decision Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in which the justices wrote, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”
In this worldview, the individual has the right to abort an unwanted child, to end a life of suffering through assisted suicide, to take hormones as an adolescent which will destroy sexual identity and fertility, and the list goes on.
God and identity
Natural law and religious faith start with God in the search to discover the identity of the human person.
We did not will ourselves into existence, choose our parents, or define our sex. Life is received as an undeserved gift, a gracious mystery which is an objective reality.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the human person has an inestimable dignity; each individual is created in the image and likeness of God, destined for and defined by a self-transcending love which finds fulfillment in relationships with the Divine and with others.
The Christian anthropological view asserts that our deepest identity is the truth that we are beloved children of God, purchased with the precious Blood of Christ, and anointed with the Holy Spirit.
As such, we have both rights and responsibilities, desirous to build up the common good, seeking the well-being and flourishing of our brothers and sisters, living in a profound charity which finds expression in a broad solidarity.
In this way, we build a civilization of life and love, grounded in both compassion and justice.
This Imago Dei, this understanding of the absolute dignity of the human person as created in the image of God is a fundamental and enduring principle of Catholic teaching.
Human dignity is the moral foundation of Christian ethics, in both its personal and social dimensions.
Given the profound moral dysfunction of our culture, the Church needs to effectively teach and proclaim both the dignity of the human person as made in God’s image and the many cultural, economic, and political consequences of such a conviction.
Human dignity is the common thread which holds together in an intellectually and morally cohesive way the Church’s teachings on realities as seemingly disparate as abortion, Third World poverty, gender theory, protection of the environment, human trafficking, sexuality, work, and marriage and family.
The current troubling situation we find ourselves in draws me to the following prophetic words of St. John Paul II, which he spoke while on a visit to the United States in 1976, two years before he was elected to the papacy.
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence . . . It is a . . . test of 2000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.”