What We Believe

Do you know The Secret?

Have you ate, prayed, and loved enough?

What do we say about a nation which is more likely to accept spiritual advice from Ellen Degeneres than the Pope?

At the 1952 Emmy awards, the award for most outstanding television personality went to an Archbishop in traditional garb, beating out the likes of Lucille Ball and Edward Murrow.

Keep in mind that in the 1950's, American was even less favorably disposed to "Papists" then it is today, nor was it the over-religious backwater some liberals have made it out to be.

The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's top-rated television showed, "Life is Worth Living," was a commercial free half-hour of lecture, leading from general topics into the deeper realms of philosophy and theology. The subject matter was often thick and complex, but never anything but intellectually demanding and honest. It was a learned effort, and a far-cry from the neo-spiritual filth so common on program such as Oprah in our times. How far we have fallen, indeed.

Leftists will often hold up the 1950's as a time representative of sexual oppression. They conveniently ignore the fact that it was also an era where common Americans still cared to think deeply about the issues that mattered in life. The fact is, for every fault of the 1950's, there was at least one equal and parallel virtue. I'm not sure that the 1960's could claim as much.

Watching Sheen's show with a modern perspective, one can't help but be struck about how many of our current social ills were predicted by Sheen in the early 1950's. Watching today, one cannot help but be struck by the continued contemporary relevance and power of his words.

Sheen was interested in truth: and truth does not change, regardless of popular notions.

Considering their prophetic nature, Sheen's words may be even more relevant today than in his own time. In a society eager to discuss Nostradamus and various other so-called visionaries and prophets, we should be eager to watch the taped statements of a man who truly was a teller of the future.

In the Chicago Sun-Times today, an excerpt was published from columnist Richard Roeper's new book, "Debunked." This particular excerpt brilliantly demolishes the key tenets of "The Secret," a spiritual sham if ever there was one.

While it's not often I find something to cheer about in the major daily papers, Roepers excerpt is to be praised, as is his scorn of major public figures such as Larry King and Oprah, who shamelessly promote the book. Such charlatans are inflating their financial portfolios at the personal expense of millions.

The popularity of such books as 'The Secret' and 'Eat, Pray, Love' are only indicators that Americans who have cast-off traditional belief systems remain deeply hungry for spiritual sustenance and guidance. One of the reasons that Atheism will never become a truly popular front is that human beings are wired for spirituality: we NEED such things in our lives.

Still, it says something when otherwise educated people are more likely to listen to Oprah than the Pope. It says something when we are both ignorant and self-centered enough to fall for every new spiritual sham.

Not that Christians aren't partly to blame: the plastic edifice of much Evangelical Christianity coupled with the neon-glow of televangelists such as Joel Olsteen have cheapened religion while cheapening the name and message of Christ. For their part, Catholic and Orthodox leaders -- the inheritors of the unbroken line of tradition back to Christ himself -- have made numerous blunders while often refusing to publicly defend and promote the faith. Nor have I heard a single homily denouncing the social ills which Richard Roeper is tackling: so much for educating the faithful. Then there are politicians on both sides of the aisle, hijacking religion to gain even a sliver of additional votes in their next campaigns.

I repeat: truth remains truth, no matter Oprah may tell you. Truth remains truth, even when pro-life Republicans hijack it and pro-choice Obama contradicts his own belief in it. Truth remains truth even when evangelists cheapen it, Bishops fear it, and people misunderstand it.

The Pagan societies of antiquity sought truth, and sought it fiercely. For all of our historical arrogance, it is humbling to know that their Godless Pagan philosophies were more logical and developed than the sham pop-philosophies of the 21st century. The ancient Greeks certainly had sham pop-philosophies to combat the wisdom of their great teachers, but they didn't have MTV, Borders books, and the Oprah show to help them propagate such idiocy.

We have reached the end of an age of deconstruction: eager to cast off the evils of past generations, we have simultaneously discarded their wisdom as well. Here we are, at the dawn of the most educated and technologically advanced society in human history, beginning our philosophical and metaphysical quest anew. Despite having the easiest access to information in human history, we choose to remain ignorant, raising questions that were answered correctly several millenia ago, instead trying to fit new and ever more-inventive answers into the gaps left by our destructive irreverence for our heritage of wisdom.

Freshman philosophy majors would cringe at the propositions and self-contradictions contained in books like The Secret, yet most of us remain all too eager to be led astray.

The ever-growing self-help and metaphysics sections in our local bookstore are clear indicators that people are yearning for spiritual food and guidance. For both good and evil men, this is an opportunity to reap an incredible reward.

We can only work hard, and hope that the truth wins out.