Inescapable Religious Systems of Human Behavior

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 29, 2025

The drama of our human existence encompasses interlocking spheres of belief and behavior: the religious sphere, the moral sphere, and the prudential (political) sphere. The Catholic system is highly developed and explicit. Systems that vary from Catholic details implicitly use the same interdependent template. But all have eternal consequences.

The Catholic Religious Sphere encompasses the Deposit of Faith. Evangelists recorded the testimony of the eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. The Church hands down the testimony from every generation. The essentials of the faith are presented to us by the teaching authority of the Church. Tradition, Scriptures, and Magisterium are guardians of the faith.

The Apostles’ Creed sums up the faith. God creates us in His image. Original sin wounded human nature. Jesus saves us from our sins. His Cross and Resurrection redeem us, and our encounter with Him in the Church and the Sacraments heal our wounded nature and prepare us for heaven.

The Catholic Moral Sphere derives from Jesus and His Church. The Church invokes the Scriptures and the words of Jesus to formulate the precepts of natural law to cluster around the Ten Commandments. The moral principles help us understand and define intrinsically good and evil acts. A single unrepented mortal sin brings condemnation at death. The moral law (except for Catholic disciplinary laws such as fasting) applies to everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

The fact of the Incarnation—God and man reconciled—is essential to our understanding of Catholic morality. Faith and morals are reasonable. The Catholic religion and authentic science are perfectly compatible. God commands us through the Church to do good and avoid evil, love God and neighbor. God is infinitely good and cannot will evil.

The Catholic Prudential (Political) Sphere applies Catholic religious and moral principles to every culture and nation. The Catholic laity governs the political sphere, often with the assistance of the hierarchy. The political sphere includes everyday living, secular lawmaking, immigration, domestic policy, and foreign policy. We govern our individual lives, communities, and nations with God’s grace and according to our state of life.

The laity considers circumstances and evaluates evidence. Lay people apply Christian principles to form opinions and make choices. Disagreements based on the evidence, real or perceived, are likely. However, moral pragmatism—the claim that good ends justify evil means (such as “We have no choice but to target non-combatants to win the war”) tinkers with Catholic moral principles. Many Catholics are quick to accuse priests of meddling in politics when they identify violations of the Commandments. But clergy often overreach in prudential judgments.

The religious-moral-prudential template applies to every aspect of life, including the various expressions of Protestant practice, strains of Islam, and the array of Eastern religions. The model helps with mutual understanding without rancor.

The Traditional Protestant Religious Sphere is founded on the “Scriptures alone” dogma but includes an array of implicit traditions and doctrines. Original Sin obliterates (not merely “wounds”) human nature. The Cross and Resurrection save us when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. We encounter Jesus in faith, invoke literal interpretations of the Scriptures, and trust pastors, often with their conflicting interpretations.

The Traditional Protestant Moral Sphere refers solely to the Bible to distinguish right from wrong. We are saved by faith, not works (understood as moral behavior). Protestant theologians reject so-called man-made doctrines (even as they advance doctrines such as salvation by faith alone). Talk of “intrinsically evil acts” is rare to non-existent. Hence, traditional Protestants cannot point to specific unrepentant intrinsically evil acts that would lead to damnation. Faith and reason or religion and science need not be compatible. God, in His infinite majesty, can even command evil (see Dispensationalism below).

The Traditional Protestant Prudential (Political) Sphere intersects with traditional American values rooted in the (mostly Protestant) American founding fathers. Pastors often become political figures. Facts for decision-making are usually evidence-driven. However, Protestant religious doctrines do not need reasonable natural law to drive many political policies.

A significant strain of old-fashioned Protestantism includes the doctrine of Dispensationalism, a relatively recent development (dating back to the last 200 years). We are in the final historical dispensation, and the return of Jesus and His 1,000-year reign is imminent. We must hasten His return by supporting Israel in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. (The view is surprisingly common among conservative Protestants.) Hence, as good Christians, we must give Israel unconditional support even if it supersedes just-war precepts.

In the Atheist (Anti-) Religious Sphere, God doesn’t exist. Faith is unreasonable. The atheist believes (without evidence) that existence comes to an end at death.

In the Atheist Moral Sphere, the first principles is: We live, seek happiness in whatever form we please, then we die.

The Atheist Prudential Sphere is rationalistic without the light of faith and executes the maxim “everything is permissible as long as you don’t hurt anybody.” Since atheists presumably view their own death (or terrible suffering) as the greatest evil, waging war is unintelligible unless death in battle is preferable to continued existence.

Devout atheists may be susceptible to murderous secular ideologies (such as Communism). But they may also be less murderous than consequentialist Catholics or Dispensationalist Protestants.

The religious, moral, and prudential framework of human existence provides the context for an examination of conscience for Catholics and non-Catholics alike:

1. The Religious Sphere: Identify your beliefs, traditions, and doctrines. Who are our spiritual authorities? Is there life after death?
2. The Moral Sphere: Identify the source and specific principles of your sense of right and wrong. Is there any unrepentant evil act that would threaten eternal life?
3. The Prudential (Political) Sphere: How does your conscience guide your everyday choices and compare with your religious and moral principles? Do you invoke religious and moral teachings to help formulate your views of the world?

The rich man who neglected Lazarus recognized no religious authority (cf. Lk. 16:19-31). Thus, he lived. Thus, he died. Thus, he was judged. The inescapable interlocking combination of the religious, moral, and prudential spheres determines our eternal destiny.