If you want to explore the nature of God, the origin of things, or similar philosophical avenues, come on in. If you persist in telling me what God thinks or wants, please move along.
America is a disorderly family. That’s a feature, not a bug. Self-government requires compromise; compromise requires resolving disagreements with negotiation. Too many Americans abjure compromise and disdain negotiation.
Why? They claim to be directed by God.
Speaking of Harrison Butker…
You’ve probably heard about the graduation speech Harrison Butker gave at Benedictine College. Butker is the place-kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, which affords visibility that gets one invited to speak at commencement ceremonies.
A conservative Catholic, Butker and the Benedictine audience pledge the same allegiance. His speech was a celebration of the 19th century – the Comstock Act with “Pomp and Circumstance.” It read like a catechism of embalmed traditions, a gaslight in a world of LEDs.
Butker denounced “a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media.” He criticized President Biden for supporting abortion rights, declaring, " I'm sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice."
Earth to kicker-guy: you can.
“Congress just passed a bill,” he said, “where stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.” He was referring to a provision against antisemitism. He criticized precautions that were taken in the early days of the Covid pandemic. He denounced “the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” He told women in the audience, “the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
About the First Amendment
In an era when disagreement provokes a gag reflex, the speech struck a spark. “Butker’s speech on May 11 bestirred the urchins and trolls over at X,” wrote Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker. Stating, “I fear for this man,” she remarked that “one can hardly do worse than advance ideas that are fundamentally countercultural. He is a revolutionary.”
I somewhat agree with Parker, although I regard Butker as less a “revolutionary” than antediluvian cheerleader. His beliefs were shop-worn when nuns first taught them to me and generally obsolete as I finally and absolutely rejected them after I turned fifteen.
Parker wrote, “the mass outrage over a Catholic football kicker’s speech at a Catholic school is laughable,” referring to a petition signed by tens of thousands calling on the Chiefs to fire him. “His sin?” asked Parker. “He expressed thoughts that offended 130,000 people who weren’t at the graduation.”
Harrison Butker has a right to express his beliefs, no matter how vehemently many of us disagree. I don’t condemn his words; I deplore his arrogance.
Can We Leave God Out of It?
Butker gave himself away with his first mention of God. He honored not God, but himself. “I never envisioned myself, nor wanted, to have this sort of a platform,” he told his audience, “but God has given it to me, so I have no other choice but to embrace it.” God is his booking agent.
The kicker indulged in Catholic chauvinism, referring to his faith as “the Church that Jesus Christ established.” But Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, and died a Jew. He was never a Catholic. What became Christianity evolved years after his death.
Butker denounced Catholic apostates. “From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America,” he stated, “they all have a glaring thing in common. They are Catholic. This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it.”
They’re not the Right Kind of Catholic.
When somebody says they carry out God’s will, or know God’s plan, I don’t hear religion – I hear ego. People who talk about “God” are talking about themselves. Some want to defer responsibility – blame God, not me – but most covet status. They want you to believe when they open their mouth, God’s words come out. Sorry, Charlie. You are your own Edgar Bergen.
What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?
Butker railed against “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media,” which he claimed “all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.” Disorder is an antidote to tyranny in a democratic society. China is “orderly,” but I don’t think Butker would want to live there.
The kicker also swiped at “the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” But if “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” – “all” means all. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of our national fabric, as woven by men like Benjamin Franklin.
Jerry Weinberger, a Franklin scholar, wrote in The New Atlantic that the Founder knew “the well-ordered world contains some uglier features.” “If the world is so intelligently designed,” he added, “why does it contain such misery? For Franklin, answering this question leads to some troublesome conclusions about the designer.”
Franklin doubted that God cares enough about our world to intervene in it. “I imagine it great vanity in me,” he wrote, “to suppose that the Supremely Perfect does in the least regard such an inconsiderable nothing as man.”
Contrast that with the words of a TV preacher from Nebraska who believes Donald Trump enjoys divine protection. "The hand of God is on him,” he told a cable news show, “and he cannot be stopped."
Trump is an “inconsiderable nothing.” He can be stopped.