"the decay of society " when was this Golden period were Society was so much better then it is today?

Oh yes now I remember it was when the church had more power, nothing to do with how Society behaved just how much power the religous leaders had.

This piece is an interesting example of the intellectual contortions forced on otherwise intelligent people who attempt to justify something that does not exist. The ultimate basis of the argument can only be the authoritarian assertion that God is truth, a claim that is impossible to substantiate, if it has any meaning at all.

Peter Sellick: "For we know that any attempt at purity that relies on our own efforts is delusion."

I'd stick to physiology if I were you Peter.

The upshot of this is that when the church tries to influence gov policy giving "moral" guidance, they essentially are not.

They are in fact trying to enforce a way of living according to their religious teachings on everyone else.

Thus the separation of church from morality should be as separate as church from state.

This article is a good summary of contemporary theology on Christian ethics. The trouble is, it is an approach that is demonstrably inadequate - just look at the abuse scandals that have rocked the Churches. It leads to the loss of the sense of any objective morality, and the sense that the Church is just lecturing people.

It founders I think on one basic issue: namely, men are not like angels, gifted with infused concrete knowledge. We need to learn!

The solution I think lies in a better balance. The subjective transformation of the Christian through grace (the sacraments and word of God) needs to be supplemented with two other things.

First, the practice of the virtues, which in classical philosophy (and Christianity up until the advent of nominalism in the fourteenth century) were the stuff of the 'good' life. The active cultivation of the virtues is both a prerequisite for grace to transform us, and a result of grace.

And secondly, we need to be taught the concrete norms of the natural law and Revelation and revelation.

The non-Christian can instinctively grasp the natural law when it is pointed out, and can admire the virtues. St Paul and the Early Church Fathers would argue though that they can't achieve mastery of them without grace. This point I think, is the distinctive contribution of Christianity.

Recovery of a firm sense of the existence of an objective natural law, and of the importance of the virtues won't necessarily lead to everyone becoming Christians. They are after all, in the main, found in virtually every religion and moral code to some extent. But it could provide a useful anchor for our society.

Peter
When is Christianity going to face up to truth that Christianity began to die from 325AD I believe ...the kiss of death by Constantine who sought to bind it to that pernicious creed and make Christianity creedal mythology...Christ was made a saviour ...all about the Fall,another myth was there ever a "Fall"?

The Constantinian corruption has been with us long enough with all its gobbledegook.
socratease