"Putting on a different pair of glasses"

[Ichthys4121517]

As someone who aspires to be an author and someone who is also interested in theology, I have recently thought of an idea for a story that I believe has potential. Basically, it’s about a Catholic and a humanist who switch worldviews for a month, just to find out what it’s like to see the world in a completely different way. Of course, the Catholic has qualms about this; considering eternity is in the balance, it’s a much bigger deal for a Catholic to “become” a humanist than for a humanist to “become” a Catholic.

Perhaps this could be an integral part of the story, but, to be honest, I don’t know, myself, whether it would be ethically permissible for a Catholic to take part in such an agreement. One could say, “Just have the humanist change worldviews,” but this is obviously unfair. Could this be considered moral, considering the possibility of the humanist’s actual conversion? I suppose it really boils down to whether the ends justify the means, to which I would say no, but I’m not sure.

What do you think? Is “putting on a different pair of glasses” a sin?

 

[FightingFat]

I would say definitely not, but you have to consider what you are doing (the act itself) the intention, the circumstances and the outcome.

The morality of human acts depends on:

• the object chosen;
• the end in view or the intention;
• the circumstances of the action.

The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the “sources,” or constitutive elements, of the morality of human acts.

CCC 1750

 

[DexUK]

I don’t see how any Catholic could voluntarily swap “world views” with someone who had no trinitarian religious viewpoint without first deliberately denying God and their prior beliefs. And that would be sinful if it was done wilfully and since your hypothetical situation describes a character that changes their outlook on life consciously and deliberately, even if only temporarily, I fail to see how that character would succeed, since it would be denying something that was innate to themselves.

Religious belief may wane or be lost over time as a result of laziness, external events that shatter faith, etc, but I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to set aside their faith temporarily and in full knowledge of the situation.

Living according to the rules of another creed is one thing (whether or not that’s advisable) but changing one’s view of the world overnight for no other reason than to carry out the experiment? I don’t think that’s possible for someone who has a well founded faith in the first place.

 

[JimG]

But one could be a Catholic humanist. Humanism doesn’t necessarily mean secular humanism.

 

[Ichthys4121517]

But one could be a Catholic humanist. Humanism doesn’t necessarily mean secular humanism.

Okay, then, perhaps I should have said “secular humanism”.

Anyway, I suppose you do make a good point, DexUK. “Worldview” wasn’t exactly the best choice of words. My intention was for the “switch” to involve simply a change from acting as if God does exist and acting as if He doesn’t, however drastic the change may undoubtedly be. The Catholic character wants the secular humanist to put aside his materialistic presumptions and try to understand the theist’s perspective; the secular humanist character wants the Catholic to put aside his “blind” faith in God and at least try to think skeptically, while not necessarily outright denying God’s existence. Those both seem like fairly reasonable requests, and they can change people.

Keep in mind that this a hypothetical, fictional scenario. I, as a “good” Catholic, would not drop my beliefs so easily, but the character is not necessarily a good Catholic.