A Catholic Thinker

"Don't be judgmental!" is one of the mantras of modern society.  What does this really mean, and is it in concert with Christian teaching?  Well, it's certainly true that it's a popular phrase and sentiment within the Catholic Church and other Christian groups as well.  The justification for the condemnation on judging most often given, of course, is the words of Christ from Matthew: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

There are certainly different types of judgment.  There is the judgment of behavior, teaching, and doctrine, and then the judgments of an individual in a holistic sense.  While the latter is pretty much indefensible and nearly always sinful in some way (unless it be done in innocent ignorance), we're, as Christians, called to make judgments on people's behaviors and teachings - at least those in the Church.  We are, in fact, commanded to make such judgments.

Let's look at the entire passage from Matthew 7:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

The traditional interpretation of this passage is that judging rashly, foolishly, or hypocritically is what's being condemned.  One must remove the logs from their own eyes - their own heterodox doctrine or blindness caused by sin - in order to judge truthfully.  We are called to steer our brothers and sisters back into righteousness as we are able - as in most things on earth, we are Christ's hands, feet, and mouth.

In John 7:24, Christ says, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”  This really clarifies the passage from Matthew, doesn't it?  Quite obviously, Christ was not telling His followers never to make judgments about anything.

Let's look at another passage - Paul's words from 1 Cor 5:9-13:

"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. *Expel the wicked man from among you*."

"Expel the wicked man among you."  Wow!  Furthermore, we're specifically told it's fellow *Christians* (and only Christians) we should judge in this manner. 

This seems to even imply "holistic" judgment of person.  But does it?  No.  A person can be described as "wicked" by their actions, if they consistently meet that definition, without making a definitive judgment of heart and soul.  Admittedly, exactly what should result in such a "judgment" could be the subject of much discussion.

I am not implying, either, that each of us should begin to put this teaching into practice to the best of our ability.  We're Catholics, and don't live our lives by personal interpretation of Scripture.  Times change, and perhaps Paul's advice (or directive) doesn't apply to us the same way today.  However, the passage does make it apparent how ridiculous is the notion that "to judge is un-Christian", "a loving person never judges", and other modern mantras.

Motivation is critical when examining an act of judgment (of any type).  Here are some examples of what I'd call abjectly sinful judgment:

- Looking down on someone for behavior they *do not justify* or *are not proud of*.  In other words, a person struggling with some sin but sometimes stumbling.

- Looking down on someone for *past offenses* (of any type).  (This is, in many ways, the *norm* of our society.)

- Turning one's nose up over matters that are entirely personal, or superficial, and not even sinful.  Looking askance at the woman who comes to Mass late, doesn't (we determine) dress appropriately, or 1001 other possible "offenses".  Or allowing a sense of superiority over someone we see as "inferior" - due to social status or any other worldly gauge. 

All of these things are, I think, very common (even more so among secularists, who are about the loudest "holier-than-thou" condemners).  The motivation is clear: ego.  Spite.  In a word, hate.

But the motivation of one who judges according to the guidelines of Christ and the Church is completely different: it is love.  Love of a person who is straying.  Love of God and offense over injustices to Him.  Love of Truth.

So - why the non-tolerance of judgment of essentially any kind in our society?  I would say, first of all, that the "Dictatorship of Relativism" the Holy Father has spoken about recently explains a great deal of it.  The (extremely un-Christian) philosophy that there is, basically, no such thing as actual truth leads a great many to be uncomfortable with strong stances on about anything.  In other words, "Don't be judgmental!" is the rally cry of a society that has willfully forfeited its ability to make moral judgments.  Their simply aren't any, we tell ourselves.

Apart from that, there is the fact that speaking the Church's Truth with some backbone invariably causes conflict in this society.  It's much, much easier to keep one's "personal opinions" to oneself and to claim "I can't force my religious beliefs on somebody else".  That's right, actually - you can't and shouldn't.  But people in the Church are subject to the Church's teachings.  (And the duty to protect the lives of innocents requires society to intervene to do that.)  Scripture says "Seek the approval of God, not of man" and Christ said "I came to bring not peace, but a sword", but it seems the lukewarm will always abound.

I'd like to make one more point I see as rather important: It's actually untrue to say that modern society/liberal Christians are against all types of judgment.  The reality is that our society really only seems to object to judgment of things that society has pretty much deemed Ok.  I think an example will illustrate what I'm trying to say.  Imagine (hypothetically!) that we have a person in the Church publicly rejecting Church teachings on life and sexuality: if this person is criticized, even in an objective and non-personal manner, many will come to his defense, loudly decrying the foolish or evil "holier-than-thou-types" who spoke out in the first place.  Yet, if this say person espoused, say racism, there is simply no doubt that there would be nobody from those same outraged ranks coming to his defense.  Therefore, the issue is *really* the issues themselves, it would seem.

Not to mention that, when the profession Pharisee-spotters state their displeasure with judging, [I]they are then themselves judging[/I], of course!  Furthermore, it seems that these kinds of attacks usually go far beyond judging the behavior they see as wrong, and straight to condemnation of person.