The Necessity of Constraints

"For as Cleanthes said, just as sound, when pent up in the narrow channel of a trumpet, comes out sharper and stronger, so it seems to me that a thought, when compressed into the numbered feet of poetry, springs forth much more violently and strikes me a much stiffer jolt." (Montaigne, "On the Education of Children")

"The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit...the arbitrariness of the constraint only serves to obtain precision of execution." (Igor Stravinsky, http://www.nous.org.uk/oulipo.html)

It is not okay to promote or support in any way in any forum that which is sin or leads to sinful behavior. While this includes everything from drugs and prostitution to gambling and murder, there can be no question that in contemporary life, the two most significant sins are abortion and homosexuality. These are, of course, no more sinful than many other sins, but they are the most significant, for they are the ones being ever more accepted and normalized.

Pat Archbold writes, "We have/had taboos for a reason.  It is called concupiscence. Sin is attractive and it will ever be thus.  Taboos exist to protect our society, especially our young, from the ravages of such attractive sin."

No woman should undergo the back alley abortion. No gay person should be beaten to death for his or her preferences or behavior. Yet the taboos on abortion and homosexuality have served valuable purposes throughout history and across cultures. They are not acceptable in society, they should not be promoted or encouraged, and the taboos against them reinforce this in local and daily ways.

Robert George writes, "[T]here is a significant element in the elite sector of the culture---an element with real power over the lives and careers of people...---that wishes to penalize or discriminate against those who refuse in conscience to yield to the liberal orthodoxy on issues of sex and marriage[.]" We see this in our courts and elected leadership. We see it in our advertisements and entertainment industry. We see it in our public educational system at increasingly earlier stages.

In 2003, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger authored a strongly worded document instructing Catholic leaders in how to respond to the challenges of homosexuality in public life. This document should be read and followed by every Christian leader, whether in politics, the classroom, the boardroom, the playing field, or the family room. We have come to believe that everything is permissible for everyone all the time. This is not only illogical, it is just plain wrong and harmful. Constraints are necessary in the arts, in written and spoken communication, and in the fabric of society, not for the sake of random and pointless constraint, but to allow true, good, and beautiful human life to flourish.