Why The Mob Rules | Why Catholic

People often ask the question, “how did our society get so bad?” and “Why the mob rules?” While we usually prefer simple answers to even complex questions, substantive explanations are typically multifactorial. It is the same with our physical health, as we have seen with COVID-19. Most people exposed to the virus survive, yet some die. What ultimately killed the person can be complicated to determine. Was it the virus itself, or did the virus wreak more havoc on an already susceptible body? Obesity, diabetes, weakened immune systems are just a few contributing factors to human beings’ overall health. We prefer simple answers, so we blame it on COVID; the more in-depth explanation, however, is often far more complex.

So it is with our society. In Genesis right from the beginning, we can see that man is fallen and prone to sin. The fall of man explains why sin and misery exist in the world today. You need not be a religious person to recognize that man is inherently prone to various types of bad behaviors, stealing, lying, adultery, etc. The Christian believer knows their fallen nature and attempts, with the Grace of God, to move away from darkness, and towards the light. One Archbishop has been willing to speak about the great evil that has engulfed our Nation. In his letter to President Trump, Archbishop Vigano notes that “the children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority.”

Why has a minority been able to inflict such destruction, with violent protests, the burning down of buildings, the tearing down of statues, and death? The simple answer many believe is the killing of George Floyd, a black man at the hands of white police officers. His death was captured on video that shocked the world and was the impetus for protests. Protests quickly turned to riots, looting, and complete mayhem. At the time of this writing, a portion of a Seattle city is under siege. Mayor Jenny Durkan called the confiscation of property the “Summer of Love.” She refused help from President Trump to thwart the violence and instead criticized the President saying, “One of the things this President will never understand is that listening to the community is not a weakness. It’s a strength”. She has since walked back her “Summer of Love” comments and with mounting carnage now wants to shut down the love fest.

In city after city throughout large parts of the United States, similar destruction has become a daily event. The carnage is so common that one becomes anesthetized to the news hearing of yet another statue torn down, building burned to the ground, and even death. In the Twitter video below, a homeless person in New York City is blown up and set on fire while no one did anything about it except to video it. Probably hoping it would go viral and get them more followers. No one had the courage to help.

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By now, it should be abundantly clear to anyone paying attention that these violent uprisings have little to nothing to do with racism. Black Lives Matter, perhaps the lead but not the only agitator behind this mayhem, is unabashedly a Marxist organization that seeks to disrupt the normative Western Patriarchal (traditional) family. The organization also supports the advancement of LGBTQ causes and abortion. Marxism, abortion, and homosexuality are all considered intrinsically evil by the Church. Many Christians seem unaware of this, or they lack the courage to speak and stand up against this evil ideology.

Month in and month out; year in and year out; in cities like Chicago and Baltimore, adults and children are shot and killed regularly, and no one seems to care. In New York City, more black children are aborted than born alive. This has gone on for decades with no protests, rioting, or looting. Since the 1960s, politicians, psychologists, and celebrities, black and white, have been warning about the dangers of the destruction of the nuclear family and the havoc this phenomenon is having on children and society as a whole. No one is listening. The children of darkness are happy to have our silence.

Mobs rule when the opposition is afraid.

So how did we get here? In short, we stopped believing in God. At least in any real sense of the word “belief.” Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson himself, on a spiritual journey, offers a profound answer to what it means to believe. Author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager, a conservative Jew, asked Peterson if he believed in God. The entire conversation is well worth listening to. This clip is Peterson’s response to Prager’s question. It should cause some consternation for all religious people.

As Peterson notes, today, many religious people profess a belief in God, but their actions reflect an apathy towards any real sense of what true faith might mean. They often embrace a pseudo-Christianity, such as the Prosperity Gospel, which proclaims that with the right prayer and offering God will bring earthly riches. Or a relativistic version of the Gospel with catchphrases such as “I am a good person.” Individuals twist the Gospel to mean whatever they want it to say, often resulting in a “feel good” theology. They profess a belief in Christ but live their lives autonomously; their “faith does not affect how they live their life. In short, they make the Gospel comport to their life. In 2 Timothy, we read:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. —2 Timothy 3:1-5

This passage sums up what the Christian Apologist C.S. Lewis called the greatest sin of all “Pride or Self-Conceit.” According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Pride, faith in yourself ahead of faith in God, is what causes us to become fearful. We fear losing friends, losing a career, losing social status, or being mocked and ridiculed, so we become silent. Silence is like an incubator for evil. We did not get here overnight; our silence over many years has allowed this cancer to metastasize to the point it is now. This may leave one to ask, “Is it too late?” Are we witnessing the end times as many Christian preachers have been predicting? Only Christ knows that answer.

For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night —1 Thessalonians 5-1

It is, however, never too late to move towards the light. In the meantime we need to:

Therefore put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. —Ephesians 6:13-15

Why do mobs rule? The simple answer is we have turned on back on God, both as a Nation and individually. This is how the children of darkness, the minority has overwhelmed the majority. The majority, without any real belief, lack courage. Since its earliest days, the Church has taught seven virtues that serve to animate the Christian life. Faith, hope, and love are the three theological virtues and prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude are the four moral virtues. A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.

While pseudo-Christianity ignores most of these virtues, in his book titled “Men of a Brave Heart: The Virtue of Courage in the Priestly Life,” Archbishop Jose Gomez’s writing is a powerful recall to these fundamental virtues. His reminder seeks to encourage priests to have the fortitude to persevere and have the courage to carry on the mission that God has bestowed upon them.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes fortitude as the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes of one even renouncing and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” In the world, you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Since, in a sense, we all share in a spiritual priesthood, the Archbishops call back to virtue, in particular fortitude, during this time is vital for all Christians, not just priests.

Archbishop Gomez describing the influence Pope John Paul II had on his life, profoundly reminds us that the central underlying theme of Pope John Paul II’s entire pontificate was one of fearlessness and courage. Perhaps his most famous phrase to the world was “Be Not Afraid.”

During his inaugural homily, the Pope said:

“Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man’. He alone knows it.”

The Pope’s message was a call to each of us individually that together with Christ, we can overcome this evil. No one person can do it alone. You have a part “Be Not Afraid.”