As the power of religious authority has waned, there has been a proliferation of the individual’s interpretation of reality. Whether the interpretation is through a religious or secular lens, it looks askance at enslavement to any externally imposed dogmatism. You have likely heard some variation of the idea: “I consider myself religious, insomuch as I believe there could be a God, but cannot get behind some organized church which claims it has a monopoly on truth” from people whom we will refer to as “independent seekers.” While I think many of us can agree that one should not believe something only because one has been told it, the statement begs further examination, as truth necessarily calls for a monopoly.
As you might guess from the other content on this website, I subscribe to an organized religion, perhaps the most organized religion in the history of the world: Catholicism. Despite this religious affiliation, if I were asked the question, “What is truth?” I would throw up my hands and say with frustration “God only knows!” Although this seems at first glance to be a nonanswer, it is in fact the correct response, for indeed, God only knows. “Exactly’, my interlocutor might respond, “so how can you claim to distinguish between what is true and what is not?” A fair question, and one which requires an important distinction.
My claim to truth is not so much that I claim to understand all the secrets of the universe, but that the God I believe in truly exists, and has made Himself known to mankind. In short, those who subscribe to an organized religion do not claim to have a monopoly on truth per se, but believe in a God who is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) That the person of Jesus Christ existed is as historically viable as any other figure we know existed. The belief that Christ is who He said He was, is the baseline of the claim to truth. From there, everything taught by Jesus was the Truth, whether we can fully understand it or not.
The phrase “monopoly on truth” is itself strange. Truth by necessity calls for a monopoly; by the law of non-contradiction, contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. Matthew McShurley, writes more extensively about how we understand truth in his article Truth: The Problem of the One and Many With the help of St. Thomas Aquinas, Matthew distinguishes how truth resides in the intellect only insofar as it conforms to the thing being perceived. The truth of the thing exists regardless of our perceiving it; truth exists in the intellect as secondary, i.e. the perception is true. Therefore, what we might perceive to be true does not dictate truth, but can only conform to it. As such, if the truth exists outside of what we might perceive, or want to perceive, as true, we might be led to see the truth as an imposition, because it calls us to live in a way that we might not desire, since desire can be affected by false perceptions. The life of the Christian has always been a work to conform one’s will with God’s will, or in other words, to conform one’s will with the truth. I think it is safe to assert that most of us, if not all, wish that what we perceive as good and true also be good and true, but alas, intoxication, lust, and other bodily desires do not dictate truth.
Organized religion comes into the conversation as the manifestation of that imposition. The Church was instituted as a bastion to teach against false perceptions of the Truth. That does not mean that members of the Church cannot falsely guide us, as we have certainly seen before, but therein lies the importance of having doctrine independent from the leadership of the Church. I am curious then, if in their criticism of organized religion and the truth monopoly, the independent seeker is looking to remove the imposition of the truth for themselves. The clear way to remove that imposition is to discredit the institution which is the manifestation of it. Perhaps the correct understanding of the Church is that it does not have a monopoly on truth, but that the Church holds that Truth has a monopoly on us.
My goal here has not been to prove that the Christian God is the Truth. Such a feat has been one of the central questions of the past two thousand years, and each truly independent seeker has the prerogative to do so him or herself. Whether or not you believe in the same God as I, I hope that there has been some elucidation on my part on why truth calls for a monopoly, why the Church manifests from it, and that we must discern whether our perceptions of that truth are dictated by our desires.
“For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, not those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth.” - St. Irenaeus
This is certainly a thought provoking article, Joe. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent article Joe! Really love the point you make about Truth having a monopoly on us rather than the other way around