The end justifies the means?

I was peacefully watching The Saint on TV last night when Barona called me to let me know Michael Coren was being interviewed on the TVO series Agenda. I have had little interest in Coren since his days on CTS and his recent activities have all the appeal of a train wreck. However some things struck me in his interview and the panel discussion on social conservatism that followed. In Coren's segment the challenge for me was to identify the line of reasoning used to justify same sex marriage. 

No doubt there are some same sex couples who demonstrate love and compassion towards each other and that is often used as a justification. Benedict XVI made a similar observation when he stated that a man using a condom to prevent the transmission of disease in a sexual act with another man was demonstrating a degree of care towards the other. This was blown up in the media as a justification of condoms among other things but it was no such thing. The flaw is that no serious Catholic would advocate evil that good might come of it. Benedict XVI was merely pointing out that God might bring good out of evil. The rest of us have no such ability.

Coren, amongst others, seems to consistently fall into this error of pronouncing the end good and failing to acknowledge that the means involved acts that are characterized by the catechism as "intrinsically disordered". The end does not justify the means. This line of reasoning was also apparent in the panel discussion that followed on social conservatism.

The new sex education curriculum and the opposition to it was discussed. Once I got past my initial irritation at people of faith being characterized as "blind followers" I began to look at the common thread in all of this. Again this notion that the end justifies the means reared it's ugly head. No one mentioned the fact that parents, who are the first educators of their children, have been left completely out of the picture. This is completely wrong. We have assigned a cadre of professionals and bureaucrats to raise our children and largely supplant parents.

The panel's discussion of the effect of immigration made this completely obvious. The consensus was that while first generation immigrants would be socially conservative, their children and grandchildren would gradually become more liberal. Well, of course! Once you run them through the state managed social indoctrination which is our school system what would you expect?

The end does not justify the means and you may not advocate evil that good may come of it. A school system is seriously flawed if it displaces parents from their rightful place as first educators. It is wrong even if the cadre of professionals are teaching social conservatism and chastity. Similarly, a relationship is seriously flawed if it is based upon acts that are objectively wrong in themselves.

Thank Barona for this little piece... he told me to watch the show. As for The Saint, you can find him on the MeTV website.