Questioning Catholicism

The BBC series intelligence squared will be airing a debate today: The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.

Speakers for include Archbishop John Onaiyakan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria and the Rt. Honourable Ann Widdecombe, Conservative MP and Catholic convert.

Speakers against include Christopher Hitchens (seen right giving the finger to Bill Maher's audience) - writer, broadcaster and polemicist and author of the bestselling book "God is not Great" and Stephan Fry - actor, author, director, comedian and "television presenter".

I saw it last night and was impressed with the arguments made by both sides but more so with those of Hitchens and Fry. Judging by the poll results, it seems that the 2000 plus people in attendance were as well. Of course, holding a debate on the merits of Catholicism in the epicentre of The Church of England may skew the results. (I sense the results would be different if this debate was held on the Southern Shore.)

Fry hits on some issues that we experienced here in Newfoundland and are particularly relevant in light of the charges against Archbishop Raymond Lahey. If you’re Catholic (like me), maybe you’ll start to ask questions about the Church or start questioning your faith. Then again, if you’re Catholic, maybe you’ll be afraid to.

Fry refers to the Church’s moral relativism, a postmodern term to describe what he sees a discrepancy between what the Catholic Church says and what it does. He makes a good argument. For the most part, Hitchens says what we would expect him to say – but he does it effectively. Archbishop Onaiyakan and Widdecombe are on their heels most of the debate and face tough questions from an admittedly tough room.

I may catch some flack for this post - especially from Catholics. But hey, I’m sure I’ll be forgiven.

For more, check out Richard Dawkins.