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Apr07

Why All Catholics Should be Interested in the American Constitution

posted by Creator Mundi

By David Clayton

A book that explains why the American ideal of ordered liberty is consistent with a holistic view of human flourishing that is described in Catholic social teaching:

Tea Party Catholic: the Catholic Case for Limited Government, a Free Economy and Human Flourishing, by Samuel Gregg (www.teapartycatholic.com)

If you want to know what this book is about, at least read the whole of the front cover and make sure you get beyond the title to the subtitle. If you got no further than Tea Party Catholic, it would be easy to mistake it as a piece of current affairs and contemporary social commentary. This is much more than that.

Although not unconnected with the values of the modern Tea Party movement that the title evokes, it is more a reference to the original Boston Tea Party and describes the influence of the sole Catholic signatory to the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll. Through papal writings especially those of Leo XIII, John Paul II and Benedict XVI he demonstrates that the free market, liberty, limited government and other ideas that characterize the American conservative mindset are consistent with Catholic teaching on the human person, freedom and capitalism. I suggest that it is important enough that it should be standard reading in the general education of all students – not just Catholics and not just Americans – for years to come.

For Catholics it is a great introduction to the basic principles of Catholic social teaching, freedom and the human person and the nature of a society in which the human person can flourish.

For American Catholics and especially those who doubt that the American constitution and characteristic American values are consistent with the Catholic worldview, he demonstrates the harmony between the two visions of society. I have often felt that some are too quick seize upon the fact that each defines the terms freedom and the human person as an individual differently and to use this as a reason to dismiss the principles upon which America is founded as contrary to Catholic thinking. As Gregg explains although some of the language of the Founding Fathers is characterized by that of Enlightenment thinking – the principles that they are describing can be shown to be consistent with even far more recent developments in CST.

If you could get any of the to read it, it would be an eye-opener to the large (Read More)

Source:: http://thewayofbeauty.org/2015/04/why-all-catholics-should-be-interested-in-the-american-constitution/