In view of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing into law the lightening of penalties for pedophilia, this prediction, from 2016, bears repeating:
What I am about to say will probably make some people blow their stack. That isn’t hard to do these days. But I think this is the time to say it. We live in a society with two polar opposite ideas on this subject, and they cannot stay conjoined indefinitely.
I’ve consistently defended the Christian sexual ethic on this blog. One important corollary to that is that everyone is inviolate in their person with regard to sexual activity, i.e., it’s entirely voluntary. I want to make it clear that I support that corollary. That’s the underlying assumption to things such as the prohibition against rape, molestation, and sexual harassment. The persistence of these is part of our post-Christian condition.
On the other hand, we have the pervasive ethic these days that sexual activity is a necessity for life (not in a procreative sense,) and that one is defined by same. A corollary to that is that people who refrain, temporarily or permanently, are a) not really human and b) need to be brought into line, most usually these days by peer pressure, or now the internet.
Given the realities of the human condition, I believe that sooner or later society will realise that, as my father would say, we “have a no-fit going here.” Our educational system, which is expected in inculcate all kinds of values it was not designed to do, will be brought to bear on making sex education not only a “how-to” project but to make sure the lesson is carried out.
When that happens, the scandal such as is unfolding at St. Andrew’s will no longer be about doing something wrong as it will be about doing something outside of proper channels. In other words, after all the years of such scandals rocking the Catholic Church, boarding schools, etc., they will no longer be scandals, and the victims who have not “kept up” with the times will be left in the lurch.
Whether our civilisation, such as it is, will survive to that point is another matter altogether. But the business of same-sex civil marriage shows that public opinion, led by élite opinion, can turn around very quickly under the right conditions. As always, I doubt most people are ready to face a societal flip of that kind, but just because we’re not ready to face it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Positive Infinity 