tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post4813571007589234800..comments2024-03-28T17:53:43.541-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Dueling and the ChurchDarwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-58865011843815107732017-07-12T14:48:21.824-04:002017-07-12T14:48:21.824-04:00I can't find the reference now, but I am sure ...I can't find the reference now, but I am sure that I have seen a kind of defense of dueling in Chesterton. I think it was an explanation given by Flambeau in one of the Father Brown stories. That doesn't mean that Chesterton thought that dueling was acceptable, only that he thought it was natural, and to follow the commands of the Church sometimes requires supernatural grace.<br /><br />I often find this distinction in discussions of how the most horrific criminals should be punished. There are many people -- prominently including many Catholic clergy, I am sad to say -- who fall short of the outrage and righteous anger that should be called forth by these crimes. Think of the people who abduct, torture, and murder children -- there are many examples in the news over the past few years if you want lurid details -- and if these stories do not make your blood boil with a desire to see this person shown out of the world in an unpleasant way, you are almost subhuman. Your blood <i>should</i> boil. Yet the Church teaches us to show as much mercy as can be reconciled with prudence and justice; we should not let the crime go unpunished, and the full weight of just punishment is still on the table, but if we can we should attempt to spare the life of even this criminal, and (for several reasons) we should not indulge in an attempt to "even the score" through torture. This is <i>supposed</i> to be difficult. <b>True mercy can only be granted from a cross</b>; this is an example of taking up our crosses.<br /><br />A murderer may go on living because he is shown true mercy, or because he bribes a judge or a guard to free him, or because the police cannot be bothered to arrest him in the first place. To too many people, the "practical" result is the same, because justice is as meaningless to them as it is to an artichoke. From a truly Catholic perspective, though, they could not be more different.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04843514873861242426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-66881619873736956302017-07-12T09:51:48.164-04:002017-07-12T09:51:48.164-04:00Dueling seems like one of those sins that serves a...Dueling seems like one of those sins that serves a social purpose, similar to gossip. Gossip is wrong, but it has a useful function in that if you know your peers are going to gossip about your bad behavior, it acts to put a check on that bad behavior. <br /><br />Likewise, dueling seems to place a check on gross insults and slanders. If I know I might get challenged to a duel – with the chance that I might be killed if I accept, or branded a coward if I don’t – I might think twice about gratuitously insulting you. I’ve sometimes fancied that if we could bring back dueling, perhaps this would actually tend to civilize our discourse, rather than to coarsen it. <br /> <br />Maybe we could split the difference and bring back fisticuffs? :)<br />Ian M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-22447939040451956432017-07-11T22:33:10.983-04:002017-07-11T22:33:10.983-04:00I was just reading about this very thing in an onl...I was just reading about this very thing in an online novel... Oh, wait. ;)Finicky Cathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06096968677045137455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-49411653561812821822017-07-11T14:29:23.115-04:002017-07-11T14:29:23.115-04:00If the Russian Empire had cracked down harder on d...If the Russian Empire had cracked down harder on dueling, Pushkin would be alive today and raising hell on Twitter.Mooga Boogahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00401627611268066704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-56196151780095952672017-07-11T12:53:05.321-04:002017-07-11T12:53:05.321-04:00Perhaps the Church went too far. We used to have ...Perhaps the Church went too far. We used to have a leadership class that defended its honor; now we have gay pride parades. I'd prefer the Austro-Hungarian military you mention to our transgender accepting one today.<br /><br />Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.com