Errors of Will

Kevin Roberts invites a conversation about theological error in the public square.

In his recent plenary address at the third National Conservatism conference in Miami, Florida, the new president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, took aim at “integralists.” While praising their zeal, and their battle against the global wokism of the Left, he soon inveighed against them: “They think the only solution to wokism is to subordinate the state to an institutional church. I don’t.” Without naming names, Roberts blamed the zeal of conversion for leading some “prominent” unnamed figures into the error of seeking a “fusion” of church and state. In making such an allegation, Mr. Roberts invited a public conversation about whether there is theological error in our contemporary political landscape.

Ironically, Roberts’ rhetoric mirrors the Left’s mudslinging against national conservatives as “theocratic fascists.” But whether he sincerely holds fellow Catholics to be misguided, or merely intends to scapegoat others for accusations anyone would be eager to avoid, the charge of theological error should always be taken seriously — in private consultation whenever possible, but publicly when necessary.

As a theologian and as a scholar of the history of the Church’s relation to political communities, I want to state unequivocally agree with Mr. Roberts: the Catholic Church condemns any “fusion” which would collapse distinct orders into one, just as much as it condemns the liberal idea of a strict separation of the temporal and spiritual authorities, indifferent to our final end.