Must Religion Equal Certainty?

What more appropriate way to start a new year than a dispute over religious interpretation?

Now that we’re into the third millennium of Christians debating some aspect of God’s word and intentions, you’d think such things would be old news.

For something that supposedly shapes our bedrock values, religion sure has its share of variables.

How many more centuries will we need to tie up all the loose ends?

The latest debate -- at least, in the Orange County sphere of the religious universe -- centers on St. John the Baptist school in Costa Mesa. In a story detailed elsewhere in the paper today, some parents at the Roman Catholic elementary/middle school are upset that it has allowed a gay couple to enroll their two adopted sons in kindergarten. The unhappy parents -- 18 signed a letter of protest -- note that Catholic doctrine impugns homosexuality and that the Vatican has condemned marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.

They want the school to accept only parents who sign off on official doctrine. Presumably, the gay couple wouldn’t do that, and their boys would leave school. To the offended parents, the boys’ departure would represent a moral victory.

Such a position isn’t “radical or mean-spirited,” the parents write, but merely an assurance to prospective parents that the school adheres to Catholic doctrine.

Father Martin Benzoni, who oversees the school, disagrees. He told our reporter that the boys had been baptized as Catholics and deserved a Catholic education.

That doesn’t sound very radical, either. The padre says flat-out he believes the decision “is in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”

No way, says one of the offended parents. “The teachings of the Church seem to have been abandoned,” he says.

Those two remarks -- utterly in conflict with each other and spoken by two men I presume to be good Catholics -- are why I find the dispute so interesting.

It illuminates the age-old question that people of faith should ask themselves: If God’s word is inviolate and serves as my guidepost, why do so many people of the same faith so often disagree? That being the case, how sure am I that I’m right in my interpretation of God’s will?

It seems to me, as a logical matter, that religious people would at some point be forced to concede that they’re not always right.

I have no personal stake in the Costa Mesa issue, but I’m on Father Benzoni’s side. Still, there’s a fair question to be asked: Are people on the other side supposed to abandon deeply held beliefs just to make peace?

My answer is no.

But it comes with advice: Don’t forsake your beliefs, but entertain the possibility that you’re wrong in this specific case. Conceding that you may be wrong and then yielding is not the same thing as knowing you’re right and then yielding.

It’s not as though the church, in its wisdom, hasn’t been wrong before. Four hundred years ago, inquisitors condemned Galileo for saying that the Earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way around. Galileo was right, but the church knew he was wrong and branded him a heretic.

I’d bet the church has missed a few other calls in the intervening centuries. It might even be wrong on gay marriage.

The 18 parents at St. John the Baptist no doubt believe they’re right. How might they convince themselves otherwise?

To me, it’s obvious: How persuasive can any religious argument be that, as its outcome, results in forcing two kindergartners out of school?

If I were one of the 18, I’d ask myself that question and then follow my heart.