Emily Mangan

October 1, 2013
Understanding Religious Intolerance
Dr. D Gregory Griffith
Challenging Your Assumptions: Catholicism

Im not going to lie, this prompt puzzled me because it was hard for me to discern what
exactly my assumptions about religions were, false or not. Im the type of person who tries to
keep an open mind about what they dont understand or know, and quite honestly I just dont
know much about religions other than my own. My lack of knowledge doesnt make me
intolerant, only dense. But it did make this challenging assumptions essay quite challenging
indeed. Our class discussions have led me to ponder my Christian faith and all the doctrines
Christianity upholds, as well as rekindling my interest in Catholicism and its differences within
the Christian realm of denominations. My mother raised me to believe that Catholics were
unreasonable: strict and biased, intolerant of people unlike them, and mega-traditional. My
mom isnt intolerant, but she did form assumptions about the Catholic faith that she passed
onto me. I believed that Catholics believed in very different things than me as a Methodist
Protestant. My assumptions started changing as I learned more about it: first when I met my
Catholic best friends, and second when I studied the Second Vatican Council.
Ive always attended public schools growing up, so religion was never taught in my
school. It didnt really bother me until I started my first job and most of my coworkers went to
private Catholic high schools. As a devout Christian, it interested me that they seemed to have
so much knowledge of their religion, and that attending private school had made their faith
stronger. My friend Chris told me about some of the classes he took at St. Ignatius High
SchoolApologetics (defending your faith), Morals & Ethics, Old Testament, Jesus Death and
Resurrection. It made me jealous. He was learning and discussing his Catholic faith in a
classroom setting amongst his peers, and he was gaining knowledge about our ancient
scripture. Yes, I attended Vacation Bible School as a child and went through confirmation as a
pre-teen. But had I attended Catholic school (even though Im not Catholic), I feel like I would
have learned more about Christianity as a whole, and that my assumptions about Catholicism
would have been different. Actually learning about the doctrinal beliefs of a religion is
important before you pass judgments on what you dont know.
The Second Vatican Council, commonly referred to as Vatican II, was announced by
Pope John XXIII on January 25
th
, 1959. It was intended to be a means of spiritual renewal for the
Catholic Church, as well as an opportunity for Christian denominations that had separated from
Roman Catholicism to join in search for reunion. Council opened on October 11
th
, 1962.
Preparatory commissions drafted decrees before then, but once council opened, diverse
council Fathers from around the world came together which resulted in a more progressive
viewpoint. The Council was completed and sixteen documents were enacted on December 8
th
,
1965.
The documents of Vatican II touch on various topics. The Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church attempts to focus the Church on biblical terms rather than juridical categories. It
reminds the people that Church was comprised of people of God, not laity leaders that are
holier than the rest. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation means to relate scripture
to tradition, and point out their common origin in the Word of God. It affirms the value of
scripture to the salvation of men, but also doesnt criticize other scholarly study of the Bible.
The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today touches on the cultural and
political changes in society in modern times and how the Catholic Church is prepared to answer
questions about those changes, and how it will adjust itself to adhere to the needs of society.
The two documents that I will focus on and analyze in this essay, however, are specific pieces
that speak about the Catholic stance on religious freedom and their tolerance of other religions.
When I asked my friend Chris for a statement on his opinion of Catholic tolerance, he
stated, In principle, we believe everyone is a Child of God who should be treated with dignity.
In action though, people arent very tolerant. I found Chris statement almost amusing,
because he speaks so acutely and accurately about people of faith in general and repeats a
theme weve discussed many times in classtolerance is often a principle, and not an action.
Chris statement also spoke to me because of the word dignity. One of the documents in
Vatican II is the Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae). The document
examines the social and civic rights of people and communities in relation to religious freedom.
The document states:
This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom.
This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of
individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be
forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly,
whether alone or in association with others, within due limits. The council further
declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the
human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason
itself.(2) This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the
constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right.
(Holy See)
The Catholic Church believes that every person has the natural right of dignityto be
able to believe and practice any religion they choose, without being coerced into practicing any
certain religion. However, the document also states that: We believe that this one true religion
subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of
spreading it abroad among all men (Holy See). The Church believes that God manifested the
divine Truth and the way to salvation in the following of Jesus Christ, and we are to serve God
through the coming to Christ. It is their duty to bring others to Christ (Matthew 28: 19-20), and
all men have the moral duty to receive salvation through Him. But as the Declaration states,
they do not believe in force. Every man and woman must come to God of their own accord and
not through coercion. I think that this statement differs from many popular opinions of
Catholicism and Christianity in general. Christians get something of a bad rep because of their
conversion methods and persistency. The Vatican II states doctrinally that Wherefore every
man has the duty, and therefore the right, to seek the truth in matters religious in order that he
may with prudence form for himself right and true judgments of conscience, under use of all
suitable means. Truth, however, is to be sought after in a manner proper to the dignity of the
human person and his social nature. So yes, the Catholic Church believes that it is the right and
true religion, but it also believes that people should find that truth on their own and using their
own judgment. The Declaration on Religious Freedom rejected my assumption of Catholicism. I
assumed that they wanted to convert people to the Church through any means they could. I
have learned through my studies that this is far from true. The Church wants people to convert
because they have found the Truth, which is that they want to follow Christ for themselves.
Stemming from this misassumption, I was also under the impression that Catholicism
didnt give validity to other religious groups apart from Christianity. I knew that they like most
religions preached tolerance, but I thought that because of their belief in the Truth of God
being Catholicism, then any other sort of religion (especially polytheistic ones) would not factor
into their equation. After reading the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-
Christian Religions, I have a better idea of their doctrinal statements on this matter.
The Church recognizes that most people turn to religion to answer their burning
questions regarding humanity and everything larger than itwhat are we made from, what is
our purpose, what is morally right and good, what is evil, what should we look for after this life
and how can we attain a good afterlife? These questions and more are answered by religion,
although the answers vary depending on what group you ask. Which answers are valid? The
Declaration addresses religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism:
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards
with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings
which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth,
nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she
proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6),
in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all
things to Himself (4) (Holy See).
The Church accepts that the naturalistic tendencies of such religions are a justified way
of trying to find answers. It even goes as far as to use the words sincere reverence, which is a
respectful viewpoint on sacred matters. The Declaration also addresses Islam, saying that the
Church regards with high esteem Muslims because of their worship of the one true God.
Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet and honors his mother Mary. The Catholic Church
recognizes that Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen
between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work
sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the
benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom. I think
this is one of the most important passages because it speaks directly to the acts of intolerance
that have been committed to those of other faiths, and asks that it is stopped. I think this is
very radical of the Church to include, and very important. Lastly, the Declaration addresses
Judaism as its sister faith through our shared Abrahamic roots. They state that God will
forgive and accept the Jews first because he will excuse them on behalf of their forefathers.
They are the closest to the Catholic path to salvation.
I found this doctrine very enlightening. It was pleasant to read such tolerant words in a
sacred text. I understand the Catholic stance on religious freedom and tolerance much more
clearly now, and I find it much closer to my own beliefs than I had previously assumed it would
be. Catholicism believes that the Catholic text, behavior, and worship is the Divine Truth. They
believe that the recognition of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Savior is the true path to
salvation. However, they understand that there are other valid religions, and that each possess
qualities of the Truth. And they believe that coming to the Truth should be a personal journey
and decision. They believe that it is a civic and moral right, a matter of human-born dignity, that
every person be able to practice and believe anything they want. They encourage people to
follow Christianity, not force them to. Studying the Second Vatican Council has made me much
more comfortable with Catholicism. I have talked about it and its differences from Protestant
denominations in depth with Chris and some other friends. Chris says it best I think: We all
believe in Jesus. Thats all you can ask for. Anything else is really just different ways of showing
it. I look forward to sharing my new found knowledge with my mother. I think she will find she
has also been holding some stereotypes against her strict Catholics. In the end, were all
Christians. We all believe that Jesus is Truth, and we all believe that others will find Him in their
own way. Anything else is really just different ways of showing it, after all.

Works Cited
"Second Vatican Council." Encyclopedia Brittanica.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/624014/Second-Vatican-Council>.
"Documents of the II Vatican Council." Holy See n.pag. Vatican Archive. Web. 2 Oct 2013.
<http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm>.
Reiser, William. "Roman Catholic Understanding of Religious Tolerance in Modern Times." .
N.p.. Web. 2 Oct 2013. <https://blackboard.uc.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-8924521-dt-
content-rid-41301806_2/courses/13FS_RELG3010001/copier%40uc-
1.edu_20120824_095423.pdf>.
Wrenn, Christopher. E-mail Interview. 28 Sep 2013.