As Pope John Paul II theorized on the "Culture of Life" in relation to Church teachings, the popular media completely ignored his pastoral thesis and focused on the "Culture of Death", here is what he said...
"...we are confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin. This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable 'culture of death.'"
He elaborates:
"This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. ...a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected..."
Concluding that:
"...a kind of 'conspiracy against life is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to a point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States."
What is very recognizable to me is his description of "sin" as a cultural unit of measure and indicating it has a structure. This structure does not have a name but he describes it as a specific activity - "it denies solidarity".
Focusing on the "Culture of Death" immediately eliminated identifying any "activities" necessary to overcome "denying solidarity" in all our lives. Establishing a "Culture of Life" quickly ran into political issues and agreement with how this could be done. However, I do agree with the critics who say:
"...critics, who argue that religious conservatives do not have a monopoly on valuing life, or that they devalue it themselves, or that by emphasizing quantity of life they devalue quality of life."
Pope John Paul's original observation of a "Denial of Solidarity" however seems very valid in the current political context. Even more so than a "Culture of Death" focused on abortion, euthanasia, and other socially occurring manifestations.
"Denial of Solidarity" sounds related to Pope John Paul's personal involvement in Poland's Solidarity Movement (1980-1989). This was a pro-democracy movement made up of workers, intellectuals, students, peasants, the Catholic Church, and major professional groups targeting the communist regime.
Searching for reference to "Denial of Solidarity" was fruitless except for the law book entitled, Solidarity, by K. Bayertz, Springer Science & Business Media, Feb 28, 1999 - Law - 350 pages.
There are many legal books referencing this particular phrase and combination of words but as I dug deeper another type of reference began to appear. Health books and papers referencing human dignity as a taxonomy subject.
"Solidarity is unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on universities of interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies. It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one. The term is generally employed in sociology and the other social sciences as well as in philosophy or in Catholic social teaching."
Solidarity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://tinyurl.com/njut9g8
Culture of life - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://tinyurl.com/np3t9uf
Movements and Campaigns: http://tinyurl.com/ppz6eht
Solidarity - Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/mr2uxe7
