I call it the faculty lounge fallacy. It occurs when people who are far removed from the practical consequences of their ideas insist on advocating societal prescriptions that would never survive first contact with reality. For example, about 40 years ago, United Methodist Bishops composed a pastoral letter expressing their disapproval of then-President Reagan’s nuclear deterrent policy vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. The Bishops maintained that even the possession of nuclear weapons as a deterrent measure was immoral (notwithstanding the fact that our nuclear deterrence helped enable the right of Methodist Bishops to write asinine letters).
In a similar vein, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops appears to be trodding down an unfortunate path with a Special Pastoral Message that is more remarkable for what it doesn’t say than for what it does say. The message focuses with 8K Ultra High Definition resolution on the “fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants,” a self-evident and foundational truth not only of the Christian faith but of western civilization writ large, but it fails to mention even once the “fundamental dignity” of victims who’ve been been assaulted, raped, and/or murdered by violent predators who should never have been here in the first place.
Indeed, to the extent that the Pastoral Message draws any distinction between the legal and the illegal immigrant, it is to “…advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures,” adding that, “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict.” That last point, while correct, is curiously mute on the grave national security consequences of allowing millions of military age men from across the world to enter the country unvetted. It should be noted that while on the cross, Christ recognized the human dignity of a nearby thief who acknowledged his wrongdoing and asked Our Lord’s forgiveness. Jesus responded by forgiving the man’s sins, saying that he would be in paradise that very day. What Christ did not do was levitate the man from his cross and send him on his merry way, thereby relieving him of the earthly consequences of his misdeeds.
These are the sort of distinctions that are missing in action from the Bishops’ Pastoral Message that instead enjoins us to a cause in which:
We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.
It’s at this point that the Bishop’s selective concern begins its departure from reality. If I breach the wall surrounding Vatican City, upon my capture I can expect a fine of $10,300 to $25,700 and imprisonment of 1-5 years, plus a 15-year ban from Vatican territory.
Continue reading at Ricochet