Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

NATIONS do not have eternal souls. Whole societies don’t go to heaven or hell. Then how can it be that social organisms have any spiritual obligations whatsoever?

The following dialogue between a hypothetical teacher and student, taken from The Social Rights of Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ the King by the Rev. Denis Fahey, D.D., is a most logical and lucid explanation for why the modern notion that religion is purely an individual matter is fatally wrong. This is a great little book, available in its entirety online. Here is Chapter I and part of Chapter II.

Chapter I: The Supreme Authority of God Over All Society

T.  You know, of course, the first articles of the Apostles’ Creed. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.” The Church expresses the same truth in the Creed at Mass. ” I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.”

S. Yes, but what do you mean by the words “Creator (Maker) of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible”?

T. By those words I mean that everything that exists other than God has been made by God, and that all things visible and invisible have been created by Him.

S. What distinction do you make between visible and invisible things?

T. On the one hand, there are things which fall under the sense of sight, of hearing, or of the other senses, which are in some way tangible: these are the visible things. There are, on the other hand, things which really exist, of which one can have knowledge, but which cannot be perceived by the senses.

S. Would you kindly give some examples of invisible things.

T. The angels, the human soul, human thought and will, human power and authority—these are all examples of invisible things.

S. But is not human society also an invisible thing?

T. It is not visible in the sense that one can handle and touch it, but it is fully perceptible in the sense that one can see that it exists. Thus, for instance, it is easy to perceive that one nation is distinct from another, and that an association, public or private, is distinct from any other association.
S. Then society, whether considered as visible or invisible, is a creature?

T. Yes, and when in the Creed we say ” I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible,” we solemnly declare that every society, as well as man himself has been created by God, and consequently depends upon Him absolutely. This doctrine holds for every society, whether natural, that is to say, founded in a profound inclination of human nature, or voluntary, that is to say due to the action of the human will.

S. May I have some proofs of the created nature of society?

T. Besides the testimony of the Holy Ghost in Scripture, and the testimony of Holy Church, proofs from reason can be brought forward. Every society is made up of men. Every man is a creature. It follows that the relations of men with one another are created. Moreover, every society, like every nation, forms a real entity. This entity is a moral whole, having a real existence other than God’s existence.
Since it is not God, it has been created by God, and accordingly it must be dependent on Him in an absolute fashion, as every creature is dependent on its Creator.

Another fundamental truth is this: man does not depend on God solely because he is a creature, but also because God is his supreme and final end. It is evident that the last end of every created thing is God. But more especially is God the last end, supreme and infinite, of every intelligent creature. Man is made to attain to God. He must understand that he has been created for this end and must desire to reach it. Now God has endowed man with a nature such that he cannot live otherwise than in society. As a social being, then, man must have God as his final and supreme end. Unless we hold this we must hold that man finds the end of society in society itself, which would be to make of society and idol. Societies are not eternal. It is clear then that their ultimate end lies in this—that, in and through them, the intellect and the will of their members should attain to God.

 Chapter II: Necessary Consequences Of That Created State Which Is The Essence Of Human Society

S. Well, then, what is the immediate consequence of the created nature of every society?

T. The first consequence is the necessary, absolute and complete dependence on God of every society—of every established social order, as of every possible social order.

S. I do not understand, I fear, the dependence of a social organism on God. A social organism has not got a conscience. Only the individual can grasp the meaning of duty and carry out moral obligations.

T. I know, but is there not a certain confusion of thought to be noted in what you say? In the first place, creation, and the dependence that results therefrom for every society, is not a consequence of the fact that man is endowed with a conscience, but of the fact that man has received from God being and existence. His creation did not depend upon himself: he is a created being, whether he likes it or not. It is the same for every society. Its coming into being did not depend upon itself: its created condition belongs to its very essence. Moreover, every community is a group of intelligent beings, and such a group has, as its first duty, to understand what is essential to it. It must, therefore, recognise the primary duties that are incumbent on it by the very fact that—it is a created being. Now the first truth- on which all others depend, and which imposes obligations on the creature—is that of the sovereign dominion of God over every creature and the absolute dependence of every creature on God.  A group of intelligent beings not recognising this truth would fail in its strictest duty and would infallibly go astray. It is, then, rigorously necessary that every state, every nation, in a word, every human society, should be absolutely subject to God. Thus, this obligation of social order is proclaimed by the conscience of a group or social body, just as by the individual conscience.

S. I understand, but has that created condition, which is proper to every society, no other consequences.

T. Another consequence is that every society depends upon God in its very constitution. By that I mean that everything that goes to make up a community must be impregnated with God. Let me explain further. In every community must be found a union of wills, an adaptation of means to end, an end to be attained. In each of these elements the society, being God’s creature, depends upon Him. It follows as a strictly logical consequence that when a community is constituted, it should examine the end to be attained by it from the point of view of the ultimate and supreme end—God Himself. The union of wills must be made in practical dependence on God. The adaptation of means to end must be in conformity with the demands of the Eternal Law.  Accordingly, when a State is first formed, its first duty is to place at the basis of its charter or constitution and of its legislation the most absolute dependence upon God, and the most complete conformity to the Eternal Law.  To state the contrary would be to set up disorder and to open the way to idolatry.

S. But in saying this you seem to affirm that States are obligated to offer worship to God.

T. Quite so. What has been said above applies to every group of intelligent beings. The first duty of every State, every nation, and of the League of Nations itself, is to be convinced of its primary obligations. God is the God of  societies as He is the God of individuals, but as it is the property of societies to act socially, therefore, as societies, they owe to God absolute dependence, recognition and acknowledgment of this dependence and worship.

S. But how can States be obliged to offer worship to God when in fact God is unknown to them?

T. To that question I answer in the words of St. Paul. In the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans he speaks as follows: ” The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice: “Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God has manifested it unto them.

“For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.

“Because that when they knew God, they have not glorified Him as God, nor given thanks” (Rom. i. 18-21).

The Holy Spirit declares, through the mouth of the Doctor of the Gentiles, that the pagans, immersed in all the horrors of false belief and evil practice, are inexcusable, in that they have not known and glorified God. He accuses them of having rejected the light: he can find no excuse for them. Modern States are just as truly without excuse as the pagans of old of whom St. Paul speaks. We cannot admit that their attitude is in conformity with the requirements of reason. To rulers and leaders as to all others God makes Himself manifest by His works.  If any of them refuse to exact that an official and social worship be offered to God by the State, they are inexcusable, for the reasons given by St. Paul. Simply from the point of view of reason, governments, parliaments, legislators, all alike must offer to God that worship from which they cannot dispense themselves, and from which they cannot dispense any State or any community.

The conclusion from these facts is that even if a State could be excused for not submitting to the directions of the Church, which are unknown to it, nothing can excuse it from the duty of worship to God and from submission to the divine precepts of the Eternal Law.

[cont.]

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