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Entry: Race, Nationalism, and Patriotism, Part I: Race Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/race_nationalism_and_patriotism_part_i_race#15529 Post contents: <i>In other words, Pius XI even acknowledges that race, the people, the State, etc. have a “standard value.” Insisting that this is actually an argument against the very idea of race is not fruitful.</i> What then is The Church's teaching as to the "standard value" of race? I respectfully submit that the "standard value" is is zero and that She so teaches. Note also the Holy Father's use of the subjunctive: "however necessary and honorable <b>be</b> their function in worldly things". He isn't making a claim about race. These documents do indeed need to be read closely and carefully. I thank Mr. Richert for providing links. <b>11. None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe, King and Legislator of all nations before whose immensity they are "as a drop of a bucket" (Isaiah xI, 15).</b> There it is: "superficial minds", "narrow limits" <b>17. The peak of the revelation as reached in the Gospel of Christ is final and permanent. It knows no retouches by human hand; it admits no substitutes or arbitrary alternatives such as certain leaders pretend to draw from the so-called myth of race and blood. </b> There it is: "so called" "arbitrary alternatives". And "myth" here means what the Nazi's meant by it, and the reference is to the title of Alfred Rosenberg's book. Or this: <b>47 [...] It is not just a question of fighting wretched conditions, though this is an urgent and necessary task. It involves building a human community where men can live truly human lives, free from discrimination on account of race, religion or nationality, free from servitude to other men or to natural forces which they cannot yet control satisfactorily. It involves building a human community where liberty is not an idle word, where the needy Lazarus can sit down with the rich man at the same banquet table 62. There are other obstacles to creation of a more just social order and to the development of world solidarity: nationalism and racism. [...] 63. Racism is not the exclusive attribute of young nations, where sometimes it hides beneath the rivalries of clans and political parties, with heavy losses for justice and at the risk of civil war. During the colonial period it often flared up between the colonists and the indigenous population, and stood in the way of mutually profitable understanding, often giving rise to bitterness in the wake of genuine injustices. It is still an obstacle to collaboration among disadvantaged nations and a cause of division and hatred within countries whenever individuals and families see the inviolable rights of the human person held in scorn, as they themselves are unjustly subjected to a regime of discrimination because of their race or their color. 72. Technical expertise is necessary, but it must be accompanied by concrete signs of genuine love. Untainted by overbearing nationalistic pride or any trace of racial discrimination, experts should learn how to work in collaboration with everyone. </b> There it is: "unjustly subjugated:, not a "trace of racial dsicrimnation". Thus the logic is that we ought not discriminate by race because such a discrimination has no natural foundation. I am grateful that Mr. Richert as a Catholic Christian ends up in the right place. I write because I wish to strengthen his main argument. Red: I mentioned Paul because Mr. Richert did. Paul's statement which Mr. Richert quotes needs interpretation. Bede: "gens" is best translated "clan". it meant for the Romans the extended family. All: For the record. I DO NOT DENY THAT DIFFERENT SKIN COLORS AND DIFFERENT EYE COLORS EXIST. I deny those differences have any significance. One might as well call the blue eyed and brown eyed, the short and the tall, the thin and the fat, different "races". Sent at: 2008 08 30