More Hollywood Culture Wars
I make no claim to being a good Catholic, because I am not one – I am a Protestant. But US actor Martin Sheen is making claims about his Catholicism, and respectfully, I probably make a better Catholic than he does. You see, although he says he is a Catholic, he is clearly not living as one.
The Hollywoodian is mostly known for his leftist/liberal views on most matters, although he has been a bit better on matters such as abortion. But on most issues he is a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, as evidenced for example by his very strong support for President Obama, one of America’s most leftwing leaders ever.
So it should come as no surprise that Sheen is a gung-ho supporter of the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage. Somehow he thinks his support of this makes him a good Catholic. His dodgy reasoning was captured in a recent news item.
It begins this way: “Actor Martin Sheen has defended his position in favor of redefining marriage despite his Catholic faith, saying that ‘my religion’s highest standard is conscience.’ Sheen was asked about the apparent conflict between his Catholic identity and his stance on marriage by the Wilshire & Washington blog following his performance in a play that raised $2 million for a gay rights lobby group. Sheen played the role of one of the plaintiffs in the play ‘8,’ a dramatic rendition of the Proposition 8 trials written by Dustin Lance Black, who also wrote the screenplay for the 2008 movie Milk.
“‘My religion’s highest standard is conscience. Nothing can get between your conscience and God, not even the Church, because for 2,000 years, my Church has been lifting up as exemplary various men and women in their lives who have served as inspiration to all of us over the centuries, and we call them saints,’ Sheen said, as quoted by the blog. The West Wing actor pointed out that ‘the Church has not condemned a single soul to hell because it does not have the authority’ and that ‘the Church is not God.’
“‘The Church is a conduit, and it is a spiritual journey, but it is not the end of the journey,’ said Sheen. ‘The church is an institution, primarily of men, at least they are the major authorities. And so they are flawed, obviously. And so they are not authorized from preventing any member from following their conscience no matter what that is. You can’t get between a person’s conscience and their God. Nobody can do that’.”
Now it is not my intention here to get into a major debate about the differences between the Catholic and Protestant understandings of authority and the like. So let me say already that those who want to get into those sorts of arguments can please do so elsewhere.
But what I do want to point out is that biblical Christianity has always seen homosexuality as a sin, and neither Catholicism nor Protestantism can condone the lifestyle nor support same-sex marriage. I will examine the Catholic position on this issue shortly. But let me first explain things as a Protestant sees them.
The big problem with Sheen is that he seems to think one’s conscience is the highest source of authority, and perhaps even with error. But no Protestant sees conscience or anything else as autonomous and infallible. Because of the fall, sin has impacted every bit of who we are.
Thus conscience can and does go wrong all the time. Protestants believe one’s conscience must always line up with the Word of God. Only when the conscience is in sync with Scriptural teaching can it be relied upon. As I just read in the book of Jeremiah this morning, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)
Sin has caused our entire being to get off track, and human conscience alone cannot be depended upon to give us moral truth. Sure, when a person comes to Christ in faith and repentance, we are given the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, and God begins to remake and transform the inner man.
But even then we are not perfect, and the ability to deceive ourselves still remains. That is why Scripture must always be our absolute reference point. Thus a person who claims to be a Christian is one who aligns his thinking and values with God’s Word, not with the latest trendy social causes.
Sheen says all men in the church are flawed. As a Protestant I agree. But he then does not seem to realise that this applies to himself as well. He is flawed, and the conscience of any man is therefore also flawed. Unless we submit our mind, our will, and our conscience to Christ and Scripture, we will always be renegades pushing ungodly agendas.
As to Catholicism, as I said, its own teachings are quite clear on this matter. Simply go to the official 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church. I did not have to go far to get mine. Indeed, I could stay seated and simply reach for it off a nearby bookshelf. This is what it teaches about the issue of homosexuality.
Sections 2357 to 2359 speak about “Chastity and Homosexuality”. In part we read this: “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved” (#2357).
So official Catholic Church teaching on this is quite clear. If Sheen is going to claim to be a Catholic then it of course behoves him to align his views with that of his own church, and not just make things up as he goes along. Indeed, let me also briefly look at what we read about conscience.
Paragraphs 1776 to 1802 deal with this matter. Here in part is what #1783, 1785 and 1786 say about this: “Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator….
“In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. . . . Faced with a moral choice, conscience can make either a right judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law or, on the contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them.”
Hey, as a Protestant I know what the Catholic Church has to say about conscience. It seems that Martin Sheen, the Catholic, does not. But we are not picking on him. There would be plenty of Catholics who do not hold to their own church’s position on matters such as this.
In the same way there would be plenty of Protestants who do not hold to the biblical teachings on such matters. Indeed, we just recently had a group of so-called Protestant church leaders in Australia announcing their support of same-sex marriage. I discussed that here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/04/02/answering-the-false-shepherds/
So Martin, I am sorry, but please stop calling yourself a good Catholic if you refuse to abide by clear Catholic teaching on these matters. Your conscience – in a state of rebellion against God – is always going to lead you astray on these issues. Fully trusting it is about as helpful as fully trusting Obama to save America.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-actor-martin-sheen-the-church-is-not-god-on-gay-marriage-issue
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Spot on, as usual.
Marcus Anderson
If there’s a patron saint of conscience, it must surely be Thomas More, who said that if a man (whether by himself or in the company of many) were to go ‘against an evident truth appearing by the common faith of Christendom, this conscience [would be] very damnable’. While Sheen’s conscience is his and his alone, and no one can force him to change his beliefs, he has a duty as a Catholic to inform his conscience and, if necessary, conform it to Church teaching. As you say, Bill, he has no right to call himself a good Catholic when he advocates heresy.
Mishka Gora
It’s bad enough for celebrities to be involved, but what about our church “leaders”? One of today’s examples of woolly leadership”
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/churches-damaging-their-images/story-e6frea6u-1226318008000
‘Rev de Vos, who is the minister at North Adelaide Baptist Church, said it was unfair that homosexual relationships were not legally recognised. “This is a civil issue, it’s not a religious issue and it’s incongruous in a society like ours today that we make this distinction and bar people from what ought to be a civil right,” he said.’
If it’s not a religious issue, how come the Bible is so strong and clear on the subject?
Fortunately, such leaders are in the minority in the church, but we can’t expect adelaidenow.com.au to let that fact get in the way of a (good?) story!!
John Bennett
PS, there’s yet another poll on gay marriage on that site, please vote no. (presently leading 51-49%)
John Bennett
Sometimes I find it so pathetic to listen to man’s reasoning once you have heard God’s. So vacuous, so stupid, so unreliable, so wrong.
Martin obviously claims to know more about human sexuality than God. Being the expert that Mr Sheen is. Being the creator of all things DNA that he is…
I would be very surprised if there was any electric connector in his house, be it power, audio, video or various computer types in his house that is not a male type plugged into a female type. Somehow it amazes me that no person would consider anyone terribly smart to wedge two same-sex electronic connectors together, but many simultaneously believe, when it comes to human beings, everything changes and they are quite happy to claim that same-sex ‘human connections’ are equally valid. I wonder how much would get done on any movie or theatre set Martin’s worked on if technicians did not follow standards when it comes to lighting or sound connectors.
100% of all people on the planet – alive today and throughout history – are a result of the male/female coupling – and also that information delivered – via sperm – is intrinsically only capable of delivery in one direction, unlike electronic connectors, which could actually be reversed for information and/or power flow if one deliberately set out to do it. Mr. Sheen is as clueless on this as it gets.
It absolutely astonishes me that grown adults need more than 5 seconds to consider and reject the same-sex ‘marriage’ issue, even as their own bodies, indeed the very reason for their own lives, flat out rejects their ideas absolutely. I do not think 100% rejection by reality of any idea is worth considering, notwithstanding the hatred and intolerance one will likely suffer from the activists for stating the biological equivalent of ‘water is wet at room temperature’.
Martin Sheen’s corrupted conscience is never going to be any part of determining truth in my life against that, thank God. I hope anyone can see that people who generally spend much of their lives pretending other things and getting rewarded for that, are not likely to be good beacons in respect of cold hard truth. I still wonder why many people give celebrities so much credibility. I would much rather listen to a randomly picked single mother, fork life driver or construction engineer than those who usually live considerably sheltered from the reality of consequences from worldviews.
Mark Rabich
Dear Bill, Martin Sheen needs to realise that Catholics need an Informed Conscience. Some Catholic bishops in the U.S.A. have failed to make that point. However I as a Catholic am making that point. Martin Sheen needs to know the whole truth, not the points he wants to know.
Regards, Franklin Wood
Voted 6th at 15:45 when results are:
Yes 36.4% (1267) No 63.6% (2214) Total votes: 3481
Good show, folks!
John Angelico
I think it would do all churches well to dis-fellowship anybody who would intentionally and publicly go against their teachings. It might just help Mr Sheen realise what a poor Catholic he actually is.
Mario Del Giudice