The Ends Never Justify the Means
Jesus taught us not so much a set of moral rules, but an understanding of our being — who we are and what is our destiny. He teaches us to…
Jesus taught us not so much a set of moral rules, but an understanding of our being — who we are and what is our destiny. He teaches us to pursue the perfection that is God. Jesus also taught that apart from Him we could do nothing, which means, we need to be in union with Him to understand how to live in the most human way.
Otherwise, we will try to create a perfect world which is impossible and will cause much damage in out attempts.
The element of the mechanics of the human pursuit of utopia that ravages the most is the philosophy that the ends justify the means. This is the engine of a utopian revolution.
The thinking taken to the extreme found in genocidal regimes is that to create a perfect world you must allow that anything goes as long as it is on the path to utopia. Deception, manipulation, false imprisonment, torture, murder, cheating on elections, all of it because these actions are believed to be the means to an end — a perfect world. Revolutionaries believe they are necessary to weed out those who will not fit.
One of the most jarring questions I asked since I first discovered the work of political activists who use as their playbook Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals comes from the fact that the book praises Lucifer as the first radical.
Lest we forget at least an over the shoulder acknowledgement . . . to the first radical known to who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that at least he won his own kingdom — Lucifer [1]
The obvious question is: How can you venerate the embodiment of all that is evil in your efforts to build a just society? The answer, I learned is belief that the ends justify the means. Again: deception, manipulation, false imprisonment, torture, murder, cheating on elections, anything goes in these twisted minds.
Zygmunt Bauman explains that Hitler’s mission against the Jews was not rooted in his hatred of Jews alone, but his belief that a world without Jews would become the “hoped for world of tranquil happiness.”[2] It is the ends justify the means that created a vicious torture for a whole race of people — the Jews. Again, it is the unfathomable road of embracing a demonic philosophy to create a just society.
Khmer Rouge torturer Kaing Guek Eav (aka Duch) head of the S-21 prison, where many political prisoners were tortured for false confessions and then executed, stated openly in court his support for ideology.
“Did you believe that the end mattered, not the means? Was that the way you saw it at the time?” presiding judge Lavergne asked in the crimes against humanity trial of the former torturer.
“Exactly,” said Duch.[3]
This concept of utopia is a false messianism that is highly destructive because it is built upon the false premise that humans are like gods and can create perfect worlds, as gods do, through any means necessary.
Any leaders of any institution including the church are on the same path if they applaud this road to utopia. They may even be unaware of the mechanics that can unwittingly enabling this ends justify the means way of acting.
A sinister element of this mentality raised its ugly head in Britain. A comedienne called not for pouring milkshakes on opponents, which in itself is part of the ends justify the means mentality, but worse: battery acid. This is in a country where pouring acid on enemies is already a form of violence.
As Catholics, we need to understand the danger of these mechanics and see them in light of our vocation.
Jesus warned during the Sermon on the Mount that we must be the salt of the Earth and the light to the world, but if we were not, then we were worthless. Well, let us look at another analogy of a modern mentality. If the philosophies of utopia that lead our nation to ‘the ends justify the means’ are like flames raging out of control, and we are not who Christ made us to be then we are like spent fire extinguishers: totally useless to stop all destruction.
What is our point of action? You cannot love someone while literally sacrificing him or her to your ideals. We have a duty not to political conformism, not to moral conformism, but to true love in service to Christ. That is what He calls us to in the Gospels and nothing less.
In fact, political and moral conformism may do more harm than good. Bauman, who believes that the seeds for genocide reside in modern civilization, explained that all the most trusted safe guards put in place failed in the years prior to the Holocaust. “They all failed one by one and altogether.” he warned. [4]
If you read our scripture and tradition carefully, you will see that we await the coming of a Savior who will bring us to eternal life. Many atheists think it is crazy, but they do not see the other element of this issue. Our savior will come because our world will have walked down the path of the false messianism of the modern philosophies. They will create the same and worse nightmare scenarios we saw throughout the twentieth century. He will save those who seek him from those who reject him. Those who seek him will recognize their inability to create utopia on their own, while those who reject him will be busy destroying everyone in their way for their visions of Utopia.
Jesus taught how to find Utopia — love God, love neighbor and do unto others as you would have others do unto to you. You cannot follow those rules while embracing the idea that the ends justify the means. You need to choose one path or the other. One path leads to eternal joy, the other, to put it mildly, does not.
“They shall begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us.” Luke 23:30 DR
[1]Alinsky, Saul D., Rules for Radical A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals, New York, Vintage Books, 1971 dedication
[2]Bauman, Zygmunt, Modernity and the Holocaust Ithica, NY, Cornell University Press, 2000 p. 76
[3]Cruvellier, Thierry, The Master of Confessions, The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer New York, ECCO Press 2014 p. 11 Kindle Version
[4] Bauman p. 108
Photo: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng in Khmer; [tuəl slaeŋ] means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum