Koan #17: Standing Tall in the Public Square

It is often told to Believers that their views deserve neither attention nor consideration within the public square, as such views and opinions stem only from subjective religious sentiments that do not deserve deliberation in the realm of “reason” and “rationality”. Yet the Christian, and more specifically the Catholic faith, is no less objective, respectable and valuable than any secular perspective, for is not the Catholic worldview based on historical facts, philosophical arguments, logical formulations, legitimate ethical outlooks, deep traditions, civilizational importance, cultural clout and social significance? Indeed it is, making it as worthy of discourse and consideration—if not more so—than any other social, cultural, political or secular worldview. Let those of the Faith, therefore, remember this fact, and never permit themselves to be pushed from secular discourse or from the public square by such a disingenuous, thoughtless and carelessly developed argument as this one, which may indeed be met when interacting with the world at large.