The problem with pluralism: Politics unguided by truth

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 24, 2025

In the way we most often use the term, pluralism means “a condition or system in which two or more sets of principles or sources of authority coexist by design.” But since no cohesive society can function peacefully without common rules and behavioral expectations, all pluralist societies must suppose the enforcement of some set of overarching common principles within which differences which do not destroy the common good may be allowed to exist. It is often argued that this can be tolerated through a common advertence to the natural law, which provides the cognitive basis for a stable moral society. Further, it is argued that within the natural law framework, the various worldviews based on particular religions or no religion can coexist.

Or so the theory went in modern societies which were largely dominated by Christianity. But over time the weakness of this theory has revealed itself, for while everyone should be able to apprehend the natural law, in actual human experience a broad recognition of the natural law has proven to be impossible in practice without the assistance of grace. We are now in the last stages of dissolution of awareness of the natural law in the once-Christian West, and the result is that the chief conflict among citizens is precisely a conflict between those who recognize and abide by the natural law and those who do not. This is far worse than widespread disagreement about particular moral principles; what we face is rather a widespread lack of moral principles across entire societies.

In most of the world, and certainly in the West, there is no longer a common set of authentic moral principles to which the overwhelming majority of people reflexively assent. Simply put, the natural law is no longer perceived as natural, that is, as a moral compass found in our very nature and locked within our very blood and bones. The evidence for this alienation from the natural law surrounds us. The absence of awareness and respect for the natural law affects everything from how we perceive our own bodies to how we perceive the purposes of government.

I believe the reason is quite clear. Societies which have largely shuttered themselves against the grace of God will inevitably lose themselves in constantly shifting human ideologies. These ideologies are imposed through the socio-political control of human education and formation—that is, through schooling, the mass media, and (as a last result) the criminal law.

We can see this, for example, in the recent news of the Spanish pastor who has been threatened with criminal charges for denying the Eucharist to a local official involved in a homosexual union. We also see it in the Democrats blocking the advance of the Born-Alive Protection bill in the US Senate (and a good number of those Democrats are “Catholic”). These two cases and many others demonstrate what happens to religion once people in dominantly secular cultures become so closed to grace that they lose the Divine assistance they need even to discern the natural law.

Enter ideology

The problem with pluralism as a governing principle is that it cannot be a governing principle. When a society is splintered spiritually and morally—regardless of the labels used—it will almost inevitably be ruled ideologically. Here is a good definition of ideology: “A set of principles derived from distorted half-truths and adopted by secularist leaders to justify the use of political power to control the rest of the population.” Following the splintering and crumbling of Christianity, the West has suffered under one absurd secularist ideology after another, at least from the time of the French Revolution. Each one has brought with it a massive assault on human dignity and human rights under the guise of creating an earthly paradise. And each one has resulted in massive human suffering.

We may wonder why ideology brings so much suffering, but there are two obvious reasons. The first is that all ideologies essentially posit a heaven on earth, which is perceived as unattainable until those who stand in the way of its realization are eliminated. Anyone who does not espouse the ideology, of course, is forestalling the paradise which the ideology would otherwise bring about. Moreover, when you are giving the lie to a secularist’s insistence that his vision represents the true and the good, you become an enemy of the people, and must be neutralized or eliminated. We saw this in the ancient world, and we have seen it again and again since the eighteenth century.

Moreover, we are seeing it again today in the United States and Europe. For example, over the past four years we have seen a significant rise in the extraordinary punishments and restrictions of those who deny the abortion/homosexual/transgender ideology, sanctioned at the highest level of the American government. We can thank God that President Trump has revoked Biden’s transgender policies and pardoned 23 jailed pro-life activists, but the evil ideology which has led to such injustices still reigns throughout corporate America, in the bulk of our universities, and in the dominant media—without even mentioning numerous State governments.

The point is that throughout the dominant cultures of North America and Europe (and in different ways in many other regions, such as China), it has become politically and even criminally dangerous both to speak the truth and to take reality into account when formulating any personal, business, or governmental policy. Surely, as a people, we are now a prime example of what it means to live in an age of ideology.

Politics must serve the truth

The first rule of human affairs is that human perception is often colored by wayward desire and human behavior must be judged against what is actually true and good. This principle presupposes that we can actually know what is true and good, and manifestly that knowledge can come in only two ways: (1) From an examination of the actual nature of things, unbiased by emotional attachments and wayward desires, including a rational apprehension of the existence of a Creator; (2) From whatever the Creator may have chosen to teach us not only through nature but through a specific Revelation.

But this means that politics cannot define and govern reality. Rather, politics must itself be defined and governed by reality. In other words, our knowledge of reality, gained through a careful philosophy of being or a careful theology of Divine Revelation, must guide politics. We may fear that our conclusions will never be certain enough, comprehensive enough, or implemented well enough to avoid socio-political mistakes, and in this we are not just likely but certain to be absolutely right. But the fact remains that good politics is destroyed by ideology precisely because good politics actually depends on sound philosophy; and good philosophy must itself be guided by whatever we may know from good theology, based on a verifiable Divine Revelation.

To put this in a nutshell, truth is not the servant of politics. Good politics is rather a socially pragmatic implementation of what we know of the truth about ourselves. Whenever we use our politics to implement unexamined human desire, we destroy rather than improve the social order. But whenever we allow our politics to be guided by reality as known through either the natural law or Divine Revelation, we are at least striving for the common good, even if hampered by failures to hit upon effective laws and policies.

This is why the Catholic Church, drawing from Divine Revelation, teaches that she herself is best positioned to determine the proper ends of human government as well as the morality of the various means of governing—but that it is lay political leaders who are best positioned, within this moral framework, to determine the most feasible and effective measures for achieving these desired ends. Thus do sound clergy teach principles rather than demand specific policies, while experienced lay persons craft effective policies rather than invent principles.

Truth guided by politics is totalitarianism. This is what happens when ideology puts its hand to the political plow. But politics guided by truth promotes human flourishing. Adjusting constantly to maintain the straightness of its furrows, this sort of political plow will ensure a harvest for the common good.