By: Tim Busch – nationalreview.com – July 23, 2023

‘We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that.”

Who said these words? Not an atheist. Not a defender of the separation of church and state. Not even a member of another Christian tradition or a different religion altogether.

This declaration came from an incoming cardinal of the Catholic Church, one of the most senior officials in a religion of 1.3 billion people. He said this in reference to the upcoming World Youth Day in August. World Youth Day is a massive global phenomenon, founded by Saint John Paul II to bring young people to Christ. Yet now we have a Catholic leader disavowing its evangelical mission. While he called on young Catholics to “bear witness to who” they are, he still refocused World Youth Day on respecting diversity, swapping spiritual growth for secular values.

These words capture one of the most dispiriting trends of the 21st century — a trend that matters to people of all faiths, not just Catholics.

Many religious believers are losing the courage to defend their beliefs. Yet modern society desperately needs vibrant faith communities that stand strong for timeless principles and deeper truths. The dignity of the human person. The freedom to practice one’s religion. The role of the state vis-à-vis the family and community. These basic principles are under siege in America and beyond. Religious conviction may very well be the best bulwark against the destructive, dehumanizing forces that surround us on all sides.

Think of some of the biggest threats facing modern society, such as the rise of transgenderism, which is being relentlessly targeted toward children. Key institutions, from government to media, are beating the drum that children should be allowed, and even encouraged, to pursue invasive and irreversible sex-change treatments. These treatments have lifelong effects to physical and mental health. Yet according to society’s leaders, anyone who opposes them is hateful and should be punished.

Will religious believers take the heat without melting? Many are, but others are not. Religious hospitals face pressure to accept transgenderism, not least because of the financial windfall that comes with ongoing treatments. Meanwhile, many people of faith have confused accepting transgenderism with loving people who bear this cross. If religious believers don’t continually make clear that changing genders is impossible and wrong, this evil will become unstoppable and claim countless lives.

The same lesson holds for religious liberty. The shapers of culture are doing their best to drive religion from the public square. They want religious adoption providers to violate their beliefs, religious schools to hire people who reject their theology, and churches and even nuns to be complicit in providing abortion. Look no further than the ongoing campaign to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to cover the cost of contraception.

Once again, the temptation for many religious believers is to accept the limitations on our rights, going along with the flow in some areas while preserving our religious practice in others. But the campaign against religious liberty won’t stop once Christian, Jewish, and Muslim doctors are forced to provide abortion or Catholic schools are forced to hire teachers in same-sex marriages. We’re dealing with activists who despise religion and want to eradicate it from public and private life. The only real response is to defend religious liberty to the fullest extent, compromising nowhere and with no one.

How religious believers confront such issues will determine the direction America takes. The country is becoming more secular. Institutions are getting more aggressive in their attempts to impose a new ethos on society. This coming week, the Catholic organization I lead is hosting a conference centered on the theme “What we need now.” As a Catholic, I believe we need a deeper love of Christ and service to neighbor. But as an American, I believe we need something else — namely, religious courage, from adherents of all faiths and traditions.

If we don’t stand for what we believe, then our society will be swept away, taking us along with it.

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Source: Religious Courage Needed: We Must Defend our Beliefs | National Review