Espouses need to divorce democratic regimes from voters’ will
Notre Dame’s Democracy Initiative unveiled its newest project on Monday February 3: “Silent Saints, Stronger States.” The campaign seeks to clarify why Christian voters have a sacred obligation to act indistinguishable from their secular neighbors when participating in democracy.
“We’re here to combat the alarming rise of Christian Nationalism, which we define as anything even vaguely resembling moral reasoning in the public square,” said Dr. S. Eculár, director of the Initiative, at the program’s kickoff in Jenkins-Nanovic Hall. “Democracy thrives when people vote their conscience—as long as their conscience has been properly secularized. If your faith informs your worldview, that’s fine—just make sure to leave it in the pews instead of the polls.”
The campaign’s kickoff centered around a keynote address, titled “Why Voting Your Values is Tyranny (Except When We Do It).” Dr. Eculár began by explaining that voting for policies inspired by Christian morals unfairly imposes those values on others, but voting for policies inspired by secular ideologies is simply “advancing the common good,” since they represent the ”neutral ground of universal agreement,” carefully curated by people who believe: that real communism has never been tried, that Kamala Harris was an excellent candidate, and that if Notre Dame sells off more of its Catholic identity it can achieve the same success as formerly Catholic schools like Georgetown and SLU.
For evidence, Neutral pointed to several key examples. “Take the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ That’s a value judgment. What if someone wants to kill without being judged? Are you really suggesting your ancient moral code should override their modern rights? This isn’t the Middle Ages. Why should we expect those in power to decide claims about morality or truth? What even is truth?”
The highlight of the evening came when, following in the footsteps of the Vatican’s recent Luce anime mascot for the Jubilee year, the Initiative unveiled the campaign’s own anime mascot, Neutrality Jesus. Clad in a gray robe and clutching a ballot marked “Present,” Neutrality Jesus is meant to represent the ideal role for Christian voters. The campaign has also introduced its own line of crucifixes, where Christ crucified is nowhere to be seen and which are shaped like the Swiss flag’s cross, an international symbol of neutrality. Neutrality Jesus will be joined by a sidekick, Compromise Peter, who still denies Jesus three times but insists that it was just to avoid the Pharisees and Romans doing something even worse, like torturing and publicly executing Christ.
As part of the campaign, the Initiative is launching a voter training program to teach students how to remove personal conviction from political participation. Graduates of the program will receive Neutrality Merit Badges, awarded for accomplishments like avoiding tough conversations, dodging moral questions, and skillfully saying nothing of consequence. One student, who beta-tested the program, loved it: “It’s helped me find true peace. I used to try to advance the causes that I believed in. Now I can just feel vaguely uncomfortable when people ask me, a practicing Catholic, what I think on this, a Catholic campus.”
The Kroc Center for Peace Studies endorsed the campaign, praising the desire to make sure that no one takes a principled stand ever again. “True peace,” noted Center director Tapescrew Woodworm, “will only be achieved when we are finally able to stop talking about the true, the good, and the beautiful.”
To critics claiming this campaign undermines Catholic values, Dr. Eculár offered a prepared statement: “That’s your truth, and we respect that—as long as it doesn’t involve voting, talking, or even particularly vigorous thinking about it.” Despite the criticism, the Democracy Initiative remains unfazed. Rumors suggest their next campaign will tackle other pressing threats to democracy, such as candidates who win elections being put in charge of the government.
Will Grannis believes categorically that all absolute statements, especially those about ethics, are immoral. If you want to send him a weakly-worded letter, he can be reached at wgrannis@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Matthew Rice
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