Ron Reagan believes his beliefs trump yours

Purple Catholic Saturday Post

Oct 26, 2024

Good morning and happy Saturday.

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Responding to Ron Reagan

Earlier this week, Ron Reagan, the son of the late president Ronald Reagan joined Michael Smerconish on SiriusXM to discuss his recent advertisement on behalf of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Smerconish asked Reagan to share his story of becoming an atheist and what followed was all too familiar. Reagan said that when he was twelve years old, he told his father he wouldn’t be going to church on Sunday and that was that. He said attempts by his father and his family’s Presbyterian pastor to change his mind were futile; he was set in his non-belief.

Fastfowarding to the present day, Reagan has voiced a commercial for the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an atheistic and agnostic organization that argues religious beliefs should have no place in public policy. Mostly, the organization publishes brochures about the benefits of what it calls “free thought” and sues governments over prayer in schools or contracts awarded to religious organizations.

Reagan claims in his interview with Smerconish that everyone is an agnostic or an atheist because no one can empirically prove the existence of a God. Firstly, for millennia, philosophers have been able to reason the existence of a singular God. Plato realized that the pantheon of gods was logically impossible and, later, St. Irenaeus and St. Thomas Aquinas made arguments for the existence of God simply based on the fact of existence.

Secondly, and more to the point of Reagan’s assertion, being an atheist or an agnostic is also a mere belief, not any different from a mere belief in God. Just as I cannot point to a mathematical equation or scientific discovery that proves God exists, Reagan and the other new atheists cannot point to a mathematical equation or a scientific discovery that proves God does not exist.

Reagan and the others at the Freedom from Religion Foundation seem to believe that their belief that there is no God ought to trump all other beliefs in God. Why? Well they claim, without evidence, that most of the modern morals that we ascribe to today have been “brought about by persons free from religion.” As part of this claim, they mention humane care for the mentally disabled, abolition of capital punishment, and women’s rights to vote. They also throw in modern progressive values such as abortion, contraception, physician assisted suicide and others.

At the base of their argument is a sort of libertarianism. You do you, and I’ll do me. They claim to want freedom from other peoples’ religion so that they can live their lives according to their own desires. If that were the case, I might not have an issue with that; people have the right to choose not to believe in God.

However, they cross the bridge of pure libertarianism into authoritarianism by claiming that religious beliefs should have no say in the public sphere. Presumably, this means they don’t want religions to have a say on abortion or marriage or allow religious institutions to fulfill government contracts.

This is where their belief system is self-contradictory. On the one hand, they make the claim that they want distance from other peoples’ beliefs, while at the same time trying to force those beliefs on others.

Reagan tried to square this circle in his Smerconish interview by claiming that morality and public policy should be the subject of one’s conscience. Well for those of us with a belief in God, our conscience is formed based on that religious belief. How is that any different from one’s conscience formed without religious beliefs and simply on what society has decided with a majority opinion (or loudest voice) that something is moral?

Reagan is not alone in both his beliefs and his adolescent decision to abandon belief in God. It is the sad state of affairs in the western world today.

What are we to do as good Christians and Catholics? Firstly, we ought to pray for people like Ron Reagan. He may not want it and may not think he needs it, but our beliefs and understanding of God says he does. And if he think it will do nothing, why should he care if we waste our time with it anyway?

Secondly, we ought to pray and educate ourselves on the nature of our God and His existence. It can be terribly easy to be caught off guard by assertions by the new atheists and for our own sake we should know how to respond to them. Plus, by learning about God and understanding more about what and who He is, we can draw closer to him.

Even AI doesn’t seem to understand the concept of “freedom from religion.”

brown wooden chairs inside church — Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

This week we are entering the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time. This Sunday we will hear readings from Jeremiah 31:7-9, Psalm 126, Hebrews 5:1-6, and Mark 10:46-52.

Here are some resources to help you prep for the readings this Sunday:

In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are in Psalter Week II. In the Office of Readings we are jumping around a bit this week. On Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we are reading from the book of Wisdom. On Monday, for the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, we read from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. On Friday for the Solemnity of All Saints, we read from the book of Revelation. On Saturday for All Souls Day, we have some options from the Office of the Dead (I particularly like 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10).

Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:

Monday, 28 October - Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles
Friday, 1 November - Solemnity of All Saints*
Saturday, 2 November - Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

*Holy Day of Obligation for Dioceses of the United States