The Falsity of Right vs. Left

Steve recently posted a summary of an on-going feud to which he has been party. The other person, Kevin, seems to like the right-middle-left dichotomy that has permeated the global culture and the Church.

The Right vs. Left is a flexible tool, completely based on one's own perspective. One person may be a social conservative and a religious liberal in the same breath. However, that classification may change when someone with stronger or weaker views enters the exchange.

Here is Steve quoting Kevin:

... he’s thinking well to the "right" (my term) of the Church on questions like NFP use and the role of women in family/society.

From Kevin's perspective, Steve's thinking is to the "right". Notice the subjectivity. The Right vs. Left is a perspective based upon where I stand at this moment. I am the center. I am the synthesis of the thesis and the antithesis.

I, James, have little room to pontificate, because I find myself using these false dichotomies at a moment's notice. They are so very convenient, but undoubtedly false. As a culture, we are so conditioned to think with a right-center-left mentality, that escaping it's grasp takes a constant act of the will. As humans, we sometimes (read often) fail.

In terms of religious observance and classification, (and really throughout all of culture) the subject should be judged on its relation to Truth and Falsehood.

The question is not whether anyone is to the right or left of anything. The question is:

Is it Truth?