Doing away with God generates violence, Pope says

December 07, 2012 - By distancing themselves from faith and values, people jeopardize their own future. “It is by doing away with God that human societies plunge into a form of relativism, that inevitably generates violence,” warned Pope Benedict XVI on Friday in a talk to some 32 members of the International Theological Commission at the end of their plenary assembly. “When the possibility to referring to an objective truth is denied…, dialogue becomes impossible, and violence, whether open or hidden, becomes the rule of human relationship, “ the Pope told the theologians. He pointed out that without openness to the transcendent, which allows us to find answers to questions regarding the meaning of life and the way to live in a moral way, man becomes incapable of acting according to justice and be committed to peace. If this rupture in relationship between God and man brings along with it a deep imbalance in relations among people, then reconciliation with God, brought about by the Cross of Christ, “our peace”, is the fundamental source of unity and brotherhood, the Pope said.
The Pope also expressed concern over a prejudice that regards religions, especially monotheistic religions, as bearers of violence intrinsically as they propose only one universal truth. Such biased people argue that “polytheism of values” that guarantees tolerance and civil peace would conform to the spirit of a pluralistic democratic society. Pope Benedict rejected this argument saying the Lord radically rejects every form of hatred of violence in favour of the absolute primacy of love. However, he said, if there has been or will be violence in the name of God in history, they cannot be attributed to monotheism but to historical causes, mainly human errors.