Fluid Truths between Breaks in Tradition and Continuity Narratives

The Double Problem of Violence of Religions and the Ambivalence of the Catholic Church's Teaching on the State

Abstract

Not only the content of faith, but also positions of state doctrine and political ethics are linked by the Catholic Church with a supra-temporal claim to truth. Frequently, statements about the political organization of forms of government, about sovereignty and about the legitimacy of the use of military force were justified with natural law arguments. The claim of linking political violence and religious truth was just as justified in terms of natural law as was later the separation of religion and political rule. Obviously ecclesiastical truth claims in the realm of political ethics are highly volatile. The contingency of church positions on political ethics is analyzed and discussed in this paper against the background of a double problem of violence - a tendency of religions to political and physical violence.