“It doesn’t matter what you believe, only that you believe in something.” This is something that I used to believe, and something that I often hear.
In an age where Christians can’t find consensus, where church attendance is dropping, in a Western culture rebelling against itself, and where everyone is afraid of being offensive, oppressive, or “judgy,” the best apparent strategy has been to adopt indifferentism, which is the idea that belief in something is better than belief in nothing. In other words, there is no belief that is better than any other belief, so long as one believes something.
The Catholic Encyclopedia puts indifferentism at the feet of Rationalism, which holds human reason as the sole criterion for determining truth or knowledge. The Church rightly rejects this teaching, and recognizes the authority of the Bible and Divine Revelation, which is enough to dispel this silly platitude. But even Rationalism cannot save indifferentism from its own incoherence, and I will attempt to suggest that the saving grace of the Church and the fulfillment of our evangelical mission as Catholics is not to be found in abandoning standards and criteria of judgment over belief.
I could easily refute indifferentism via reductio ad absurdum. “Is it okay to believe that God doesn’t exist, or that some races of people are superior to others, or that the Earth is flat?” The indifferentist has but two responses: they can say “yes” or “no.” The former answer embraces relativism; the latter repudiates indifferentism.
In a similar logical vein, we see the title of this article come into effect: indifferentism is self-refuting, as it tells us what to believe about belief, namely that we should have belief. Indifferentism could be the content of one’s belief, but places no value on the content of any beliefs, except, of course, for the truth about indifferentism. Thus we see the imposition of an anti-standard standard regarding belief, or an “anti-creed creed.”
That said, I think that there is a much better way to approach this topic. Someone who believes in indifferentism is probably well-meaning. It could be a mark of humility in the face of uncertain belief in God’s existence. It gives room to appreciate other religions and be in communion with people of different faiths without casting triumphalist judgments, and the same with other Christian sects. It could also serve as the laziest possible argument an apologist could give: “come to Church, you don’t have to believe everything the Church teaches, as long as you believe something about God, that’s what counts.”
But we profess our faith at Mass: “I believe in one God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth….” If indifferentism is true, then why do we say this as opposed to anything else? Is it a function of our family upbringing? Our cultural moment? Tradition? That it feels good?
What happens is that our faith life becomes corroded if it’s reducible to mere feelings or our family ties. The object of our worship is not God unless we truly believe, not because our families tell us to or because that’s all we know from our cultural heritage. Family, culture, tradition, and emotion are all important (and gifts from God—more on that in my previous faith feature), but none of those things are the basis for a relationship with God. Loving God is about knowing Him and following His teachings. The martyrs died professing our creed.
To profess a particular creed and also believe that anyone can believe anything and “that’s fine,” undercuts the strength of one’s own belief. The Catholic “theory” is not simply one among any number of theories, each equally likely to be correct. We cannot simply paper over these differences.
The real answer to the question of tolerance is that people inevitably disagree. The risk that we ought to avoid is abandoning judgment. We can have unity, tolerance, and community while also disagreeing with one another about questions of religious belief. That doesn’t change the fact that not all beliefs are created equal, and that as rational beings, we can make determinations about these things. People are and must be free to disagree; it’s a fact of life. But embracing indifferentism, which is a thinly veiled spiritual relativism, will not bring more faithful into the Church, and it won’t keep heresy at bay. Worst of all, it undercuts the grounds of our own beliefs, destroying the foundation for our relationship with God.
Tom is a senior in the Lynch School, where he is studying Secondary Education, History, and Philosophy, with a minor in Restorative Justice. He is President of the Boston College Republicans, and President emeritus of the St. Thomas More Society. When not taking too many classes or writing for The Torch or The Free Press, Tom loves to watch sports, listen to metal music, and defend Leo Strauss against (unfair) accusations of Gnosticism.
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