Okay, Pope Francis was an upright guy and did a lot of good. But he was the outmoded leader of an obsolete church with repressive beliefs. What good did his leadership do for the progress of human society?
As it Happens, a Whole Lot.
If I had to put my finger on the group of people who need the most urging towards modern thinking, it’s the middle-of-the-road members of the mainstream religions worldwide. With the growth of the middle class, they are an increasing influence, and they are the inheritors of many undemocratic ideals. As Herny VIII showed us, a leader with absolute control of the church can have absolute control of the government. The Founding Fathers of United States knew what they were doing when they separated church and state to create their form of democracy. This huge body of middle-right believers anchors the conservative movement firmly in the past, and anyone who works on moving them forward is doing us all a favour.
Because in comparison, the left wing has already made it. They’re way farther ahead than the rest of the world can catch up in a hundred years. And I’m not exaggerating. If there is still a recognizable society left on this planet in 2125, we can consider ourselves lucky if the average person, worldwide, believes in the same amount of democracy, equality and human rights that the average Liberal or NDP voter in Canada believes right now.
The Faulty Model
The way we have always looked at progress was from a competitive, paternalistic point of view. The point of the game was to win the election and pass the legislation, and then everybody else could be dragged along, because deep down they also know that we’re right.
Well, guess what? Deep down, those people know that we’re trying to destroy their way of life. And it will take several generations of careful negotiation to persuade those people that inoculations do work, and gays aren’t out to steal their children, and crime is caused by poverty, criminalization doesn’t cure addiction, and all those other ideals that we take for granted.
In the baby steps the world takes towards social progress, it’s not how far you pushed ahead that counts. It’s how many people you helped make how many steps. Think of it like a Math teacher. Who did more for Mathematics in the nation, the Grade 12 teacher who coached one student to a Math scholarship, or the Grade 6 teacher who taught a thousand average kids how to do long division? The trickle-down effect needs to be debunked in a wider sense.
The Bottom Line
There is a path that every society, every family, and every individual must follow, in order for humanity to develop a just society. Every individual must tread every step of the way. It doesn’t matter where along the path you give your aid, any progress by any individual is a step for humanity.
So, if Pope Frances influenced 1.4 billion people to make one baby step towards a just society, the whole human race owes him a great debt of gratitude. We could all learn something from him.