Angilbert (fl. ca. 840/50), On the Battle Which was Fought at Fontenoy

The Law of Christians is broken,
Blood by the hands of hell profusely shed like rain,
And the throat of Cerberus bellows songs of joy.

Angelbertus, Versus de Bella que fuit acta Fontaneto

Fracta est lex christianorum
Sanguinis proluvio, unde manus inferorum,
gaudet gula Cerberi.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The International Community, The Nation State and International Law

GIVEN HER UNIVERSAL MISSION by her Lord, one extended to all mankind without exclusion, the Church believes she "has the mission of restoring the unity of the human family lost at the tower of Babel."* That unity is not based upon some false, secular, materialistic notion of forced unity. Rather, the unity of nations and cultures sought by the Church is one brought "in Christ," and "through the Church, morality, and law."** Clearly, the unity of mankind in Christ, through the Church, morality, and law "is not yet becoming a reality."*** (Compendium, No. 433). There is much that impedes it.

The world is rent by divisions: of nation, of peoples, of cultures, of races, of religions, which--when viewed in non-personalistic, materialistic, ethnocentric, ideological, or chauvinistic ways--serve as a centripetal force that work against building an international community ordered toward the universal common good. It is as if nations and peoples are working at cross-purposes of humankind, and so we suffer from the evils of substantial injustice, violence, and war.

"The coexistence among nations," if it is to exist, must be "based on the same values that should guide relations among human beings: truth, justice, active solidarity and freedom." (Compendium, No. 433) There is not one morality for individuals, and another for nation states. All men and all nations are bound by their duties to God and to the natural moral law.

The Church insists in the ideal that the relations among "peoples and political communities be justly regulated according to the principles of reason, equity, law and negotiation," and that these should exclude "recourse to violence and war, as well as to forms of discrimination, intimidation, and deceit." (Compendium, No 433)



The relationship among political communities must not be lawless; rather, the relationship must conform with international law, the ius gentium or law of nations, a law which "becomes the guarantor of the international order." The sources of the international law are various and diverse, including from international customs, agreements, treaties, accords, charters, and protocols. Unique to international law, since there is no one governing or enforcing entity, international law is an endeavor largely voluntary. Nevertheless, because the relationship among nations is based upon law, it is a juridical community.

This international order should be distinguished from a one-world government, as the international order is one that seeks "coexistence among political communities," which is to say nations, each of which "seek individually to promote the common good of [its] citizens and strive collectively to guarantee that of all peoples." This sort of relationship, however, will be informed by the awareness that "the common good of a nation cannot be separated from the good of the entire human family." (Compendium, No. 434)

"The international community is a juridical community founded on the sovereignty of each member State, without bonds of subordination that deny or limit its independence." (Compendium, No. 434) There is no question of trying to establish an international community which violates this sovereignty, or which fails to recognize the "distinctive characteristics of each people." Indeed, the sovereignty of the nation states is an effort to give expression to such distinctive characteristics.

The Magisterium recognizes the importance of national sovereignty, understood above all as an expression of the freedom that must govern relations between States. Sovereignty represents the subjectivity of a nation, in the political, economic, social and even cultural sense. The cultural dimension takes on particular importance as a source of strength in resisting acts of aggression or forms of domination that have repercussions on a country's freedom. Culture constitutes the guarantee for the preservation of the identity of a people and expresses and promotes its spiritual sovereignty.

(Compendium, No. 435)

Though the Church supports the notion of national sovereignty as an essential component of the international order, it also insists that the nation-state, and the sovereignty which defines it, is not an absolute value.
National sovereignty is not, however, absolute. Nations can freely renounce the exercise of some of their rights in view of a common goal, in the awareness that they form a "family of nations" where mutual trust, support and respect must prevail. In this perspective, special attention should be given to the fact that there is still no international agreement that adequately addresses "the rights of nations," the preparation of which could profitably deal with questions concerning justice and freedom in today's world.
(Compendium, No. 435)

National sovereignty does not exist so that the mighty might reign. In the international order, where the natural law must reign, might does not make right. National sovereignty is therefore subordinate to the demands of justice, the principles of natural moral law, and, ultimately, to God to whom all mankind is ordered.

________________________________________
*J. Brian Benestad, Church, State, and Society: An Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine (Catholic University of America: 2010), 381.
**Benestad, 381, 382.
***It is unfortunate that the Church in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church does not address the claims (increasingly truculent) of her rival in universality: Islam. Islam, at least in its traditional form, views the world in a markedly different way from the Church. Islam broadly divides the world into two: the House of Islam (Dar al-Islam, دار الإسلام‎) where Shari'a, a law against the natural moral law and human dignity in numerous particulars, is enforced and Islam is superior and the House of War (Dar al-Harb, دار الحرب). Some groups further seek the revival of a central governing authority, the caliphate or khalifa (خلافة). Islam, it hardly need be noted, is thoroughly anti-Christian in spirit in the sense that its foundational documents (the Qur'an, Ahadith) and law (the shari'a) roundly condemn central tenets of the Christian faith (Trinity, Christ as God, the crucifixion and redemptive death of Christ, the natural moral law (as distinguished from divine positive law) as indicating the will of God, the authority of the New Testament). Islam is also biased toward violence (e.g., the "Verse of the Sword," Surah 9 (at-Taubah), which abrogates any revelations to the contrary) in the imposition of its credo, which is largely one of submission to law. In comparing the two religions, one might point out the obvious: Christian flags typically bear the Cross, a symbol of suffering violence; Muslims flags sport the sabre, the sword, a symbol of wielding violence. There will be no workable international order as long as Islamic chauvinism exists.

9 comments:

  1. I asked previously why haven't you read the Genesis account yourself?

    Here is the passage:
    " But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth."

    Does it sound that the "unity of man" was liked by the God? If God changed the language, does He want man to come together? Have you read that? The unity of man was the will of man not of God. How do you square the circle?

    It doesn't sound like the unity of man "lost"? How was the unity of man "lost" when God so thoroughly thought it was evil and it was an Act of God that separated man?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your argument does not follow from the text. The only disunity that is suggested by Babel is one of language, and perhaps nation; there is nothing in there about race. There is no suggestion that man is not otherwise united (in nature, for example, or in Christ), and that unity on other grounds is not willed by God. Moreover, if the "unity of man" was not willed by God, then why did he allow it from Adam until the Tower of Babel? Before Babel, "the whole earth was of one language and of one speech." Was there diversity of speech between Adam and Babel? The problem occurred when man got together and, by their own efforts, sought to build to the heavens. Thus, what caused the problem seemed to be pride, and not unity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But if you read chapter 10, all men lived separately in tribes! Between Adam and Babel, men lived in tribes! 32 These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.Then men began the tower of Babel. It is in chapter 11 that the Tower of Babel is built so man could be one.

    Where is this unity of man in medieval texts and did the church teach on this?

    Who implanted volkenhass in men? Is it there by nature?

    No, what you are doing is rebuilding the Tower of Babel. The unity of man is not a Christian teaching have you not read Acts? St. Paul's speech that every nation has its borders?

    How dare you mention "nation" and then say "there is nothing there about race"? Race is Nation. Nation is the Latin for One Birth, common geneology. Look up the definition of nation. It was the Latin word for race. Race is a French word for the same thing. How dare you. Nation and race are synonymous! What is family? Did you not hear in Chapter 10 "There were nations DIVIDED upon the earth".

    I've read the Bible all the way thru. I know what is written there. Obviously someone has a problem with reading comprehension.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is another whopping error with this post.

    You write: "Clearly, the unity of mankind in Christ, through the Church, morality, and law "is not yet becoming a reality."*** (Compendium, No. 433). There is much that impedes it."

    "...(has) not yet become a reality"? You know what that is? That is immantizing the eschaton! You are recreating the error of Gnosticism found in Protestantism's virulent forms such as Puritanism and in Judaism!

    You want to "cure" the world of "recourse to violence and war, as well as to forms of discrimination, intimidation, and deceit. That sir is Immantizing the eschaton! You are trying to "Fix the world" in order to get rid of war, racism, violence and such! You are Immantizing the eschaton!

    Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Christianity is NOT about immantizing the eschaton! We leave that for the hereafter and the second coming. Down here it is "Life is War" in the Natural Order. In order to Implement your "reality" of the unity of man---you must first DESTROY the Natural Order! The Natural Order of Race and Nation.

    "Mankind" is a Universal. Universals are metaphysical. Race/Nation/Ethnicity are concrete realities. All things exist in F-A-M-I-L-Y. Mankind, humankind, human beings, are NOT, can not be "Family". The highest Order is Race and Nation. Race and Nation are the Golden Mean. All Good exist in the Golden Mean.

    Another error in this post is taking things to the extreme which is Latin and Semitic characteristics. God, the Trinity, Jesus Christ, all exist in the Golden Mean. Between the deficiency of individual and the extreme of (your) "mankind" lies the mean of race and nation. Race and Nation are the Golden Mean.

    This post is in grave error.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Race and Nation are FAMILY style units! Tribes, clans, races, nations are Family units. They are units where the members share the SAME blood/paternity/patriarch.

    If the Catholic Church is so hyped up on Family---where is the Catholic Church on Race and Nation because these two things are nothing but Family writ large! Family is the Natural Order. Some things just don't happen because they are too large! Mankind is TOO large to organize. Mankind is a glob but NOT a family unit. Nation and Race are Family Units. It is the height of hypocrisy to defend the institution of marriage and family and then attack and undermine race and nation.

    Do you understand Reality? Have you lived in Nature? Or have you like many academics spent your life in a classroom? The classroom is not reality.

    Why did God throw Adam out of the Garden of Eden? WHY? WHY did God throw Adam out of the Garden of Eden? Is the Church's mission and responsiblity to recreate the Garden of Eden?

    NO, and Hell NO!

    This is the Wisdom of God. Man broke the law in the Garden where he had it easy. It was easy street. Man grew effeminate and sinned. Furthermore, Adam had NO concept of the rule of law and any understanding, the necessity (THE WISDOM), to understand law in the first place.

    The Natural Order, the Cosmos, is a place of War. The Cosmos, the Natural Order is NOT built according to the Gospel! The Gospel is NOT the foundation of the Natural Order---Wisdom is. It is Wisdom that reality is the way it is! Without this reality we would NEVER KNOW Truth, reason, wisdom, prudence, The Good. Nature is designed to take out fools. Whether it be "Christians" or atheists, God, The Logos, doesn't give a hoot about Christian fools, or Atheist fools or Infidels fools, Nature is designed to take them out! And Take them out She does!

    Life is War. It is purposely designed that way! You are screwing with God! You need to accept reality as is and there is a mighty wisdom beyond that of the sophistry of the stupid Talmud and the Stoics!

    To attack the Natural Order, which the Compendium does and political correctness is to attack God himself! We were Thrown out of the Garden of Eden to learn a bloody lesson! Without the Natural Order as is, we would NEVER Learn that lesson. We can not make it in heaven without the Natural Order with its racism, violence, pestilence, and war. Life is about survival. Survival of the fittest. Nature is designed by God to take out the weak and the stupid, and the dumb!

    You can NOT stop this process. What you are doing is that you are dumbing down the European to his death! You are attacking the survival instinct of the European so that he is replaced, and supplanted and destroyed. You are making the bed of destruction.

    The orthodoxy of Christianity can NOT survive outside European culture. Without the European mentality, Christianity is destroyed. This so-called Compendium is a judas goat to lead the European people to their race replacement which is the Jewish design for the world. As they killed Christ, they seek to destroy the culture of Christendom as well. Christianity becomes an ass's fool when it thinks it can rebuild the Garden of Eden!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The World operates on Wisdom and not on the Gospel.

    While reading a history of the Crusades, this truth became very apparant.

    Many a crusader army was destroyed, annhilated due to the fact that the Christian leaders were foolish. The battle that cost the Holy Land was when the Muslims captured a Christian woman and the king and nobility were affronted. They charged out of their protected city without any preparation, food and especially water. The Sultan's army kept on feinting to draw them away and then pounced, destroying the Christians with impunity.

    All the relics, all the prayers, all the masses did not one bit of good. What was lacking was Wisdom. No matter if you went to mass everyday, said the rosary everyday--if you don't follow Wisdom, Nature kills you. This world is designed upon Wisdom and since Wisdom is its basis, foolhardiness will be destroyed. The purpose being is that Man must have an understanding and cognition of the Rule of Law. He must follow Wisdom, or die.

    Nations must follow wisdom---or die. God plays no favorites. Why are there 50 million Muslims in Europe? Are they going to be playing patty-cake with Christians?

    NO. They don't care about no Compendium of Catholic Social Justice. They are about seizing and conquering Europe for themselves and putting Christianity to the sword. They are about winning the world to Islam. All your documents are just wind blowing in their ears. To them Islam is the Way. They are out to win. Foolish Stupid Christian Europeans are the ones that follow political correctness. Nature will wipe out the European if he is a fool, one who disregards Wisdom.

    The Church can not countermand the Logos, the Natural Law. The Natural Law Stands for Eternity. In the very Godhead itself. It shall not be moved. Either Man obeys the Logos or man dies. Nature will not listen to the sophistry of Stoics, Marxists or politically correct churchmen. Politically correct Churchmen and congregations are going to go the way of the Crusader armies. Destroyed by Muslims.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In the wake of Derbyshire's article on Taki's magazine, Vox Populi wrote this in defense,

    "This isn't the first time I've been pleased that I write for WND and not NRO. Now, in the past, I have been urged by some to abandon what they errantly consider to be my "support for segregation". What they fail to understand is that I don't support segregation per se. I don't actually have a position on it, any more than I have a position on gravity or oxygen. There is nothing to support, there is only an observation to be made: Humanity is intrinsically and naturally self-segregating. It is desegregation that is unnatural, that requires the imposition of force to maintain for even brief periods, and which is both inherently unstable and antithetical to the collective will of every people on the planet."

    The rest of the article is here: Profiles in Intellectual Courage

    Humans are 'self-segregating'. You want to know why that is true? In Plato's Republic, Socrates is commenting on how the old hang with the old and the youth with the youth; he remarks, "Birds of a feather flock together".

    That is a Law of Nature. Like to Like! That is the Natural Law! This 'unity of man'? is a bunch of horse puckey.

    ReplyDelete
  8. National sovereignty does not exist so that the mighty might reign. In the international order, where the natural law reigns,...

    You have absolutely no idea of the real, original natural law. Nobody in the Catholic Church does! It was buried. I have reconstituted the real, original natural law. Johann Herder discovered a part of it. The real, original natural law, or laws of nature is here:
    The Real Original Natural Law which was lost for 2300 years. When the Dorians lost it, it was gone. It is there in Plato and Xenophon and everybody has missed it.

    There is NO international order. There is Natural Order. Does the "international order" countermand the Natural Order. The Natural Law works in the Natural Order, NOT in the international order. The Natural Order is created by God. The International Order is a creation, fantasy of Man, of Jews and of Marxists and of Masons.

    The Natural Law is "Sense of Belonging" and a "volkenhass". National sovereignty exists because the Monarch, the Royal family exist over their tribe, their clan, their race, their nation. The Monarch, like the Father in a family, reigns over his children. Race is family. Nation is family. Families exist in the Natural Order. And every Family is sovereign.

    All things have Limits. All things. Tribe, Clan, race, Nation, they all have limits. Universals do NOT have limits. Volkenhass and sense of belonging establish limits of the race and nation. The whole liberal agenda has been the breaking of boundaries, of going beyond. Race and Nation are good because they establish boundaries. When the boundaries of race and nation are broken, such as miscegenation or lack of community cohesion, genocide occurs. Political Correctness is a form of genocide. Establishing an international order, is to engage in genocide.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Natural Law upholds the Natural Order. In the principle of non-contradiction, the International Order, which is not yet in place but which countermands the Natural Order, can NOT be based on the Natural Law. The Natural Law can not BOTH be the basis of the Natural Order and this futuristic man-made International Order. This is non-sensical.

    What underlies the Natural Order is the Logos, i.e. the Natural Law. What Natural Law are you talking about? There is ONLY ONE Natural Law. One of the Laws of Nature is Strife; Life is War. How does this new International Order strike down parts of the real original Natural Law?

    ReplyDelete