![]() ![]() Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a later and rather ardent Augustinian, insisted, as cited above, that unless one loves the truth one cannot know it. Of course, there are ways to “hold” supposed “truths” that renders those claims impervious to criticism, counter-arguments, and thus not open to public validation. My interest is with the conditions of holding truths as truths, and thus publicly accessible and even publicly adjudicated. Augustine, a saint in my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.” And he asks, “What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans?” My concern is not how the President answers his own question that is readily available for readers. At one point in his address, Biden says, “Many centuries ago, St. President Biden’s Inauguration was suffused with religion: specifically, Catholic Christianity. My sighting of religion in today’s column will be just as commonplace: what is the religious meaning of holding truths? Religion, implicit or explicit, is everywhere: the flags paraded by rioters in the US Capital-Q-anon, Proud Boys, Kek, Pepe the Frog, and the Alt-Right-decoded, endlessly, in the media the doctors and hospital staff fighting a global pandemic committed to human life and dignity teachers and faculty who, in various ways and means, fight ignorance and, human commitments, convictions, devotions, and hopes as general features of many religions: all of these are sighted in abundance in today’s world. ![]() This has made the work of a Sightings columnist rather easy. Over the last years in this country, we have witnessed an onslaught against truth in the name of fake news, so-called post-truth culture, the proliferation of conspiracy theories, predictions envisioning the end of the republic, and upsurges in militias and hate-groups, each of which champions their own version of truth. Meanwhile too many religious people, their leaders, and their doctrines live assured of the absolute truth of their convictions and their rights to privilege and property, assigning others to hovels or death. Generations of women, from Sojourner Truth to suffragettes to the Woman’s Movement the world over, have struggled against tyranny, abuse, poverty, political and religious exclusion, and all manner of hatred. But later, in the voice of Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, and so many others, dignity was recognized for-man. Public figures in the United States assure us that some truths are self-evident, especially about rights and human equality, only to have historians note that the self-evidence originally obtained only in the case of free white men. Philosophers and theologians debate whether or not there are “moral truths,” and if so, what they are. In the academy, there are disputes about scientific truth versus truth as disclosure, deconstructions of truth, and so-called regimes of truth. It is no secret that we have been living through a global debate about truth. So established, that, unless we love the truth, we “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood ![]() “When day comes we step out of the shade, Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” Martin Marty Center Dropdown for Martin Marty Center.Our Community Dropdown for Our Community.Research & Faculty Dropdown for Research & Faculty.Undergraduate Program in Religious Studies. ![]()
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