The Light of Conflict

But then, perhaps my differences with Rev. Sensing grow from the differences of faith and religious understanding that led us to different denominations. Tom of Disputations argues that Catholics have a particular view of the self and the self's place in society that accords with my disagreement with Sensing:

There are ways in which American culture and Catholic culture contradict each other. I have in mind, not the old know-nothing ideas like American Catholics taking their marching orders from Rome, but, in a word, division. In American culture, people are divided into different parts: the professional; the social; the political; the religious. That's nonsense in Catholicism; religion isn't something you do on Sunday, and you are literally the same person at work as at home.

Since there are conflicts between Catholicism and American culture, a Catholic should expect to be conflicted in American culture. He should also expect to be a source of conflict. If he is neither conflicted nor a source of conflict, he should ask himself whether he's doing something wrong.

Similarly, although one area of life blends into another, there can be no true, stark separation between religion and government. If the relationship isn't a source of conflict, it suggests an imbalance that will ensure a desiccated society.