What follows is a list of 95 propositions calling out, Luther-like, some contemporary mistakes and misconceptions in our cultural outlook in the same way that Pope Pius IX did in 1864

A Syllabus of Errors: An Update In Ninety-Five Sentences

BY JAMES SORIANO


On October 31, 1517, a 34-year-old Catholic priest affixed a notice of disputation, consisting of ninety-five theses, to the door of the castle church in the German town of Wittenberg.

That act has come to be seen down the ages as a dramatic gesture of defiance and an open declaration of rebellion. It was not. Martin Luther’s act was an academic challenge for disputing certain practices (primarily indulgences) within an institution in need of reform.

Today the rigid orthodoxy of a liberal and leftist ideology prevails on throughout the land. This ideology does not have a central idea or doctrine, but is rather a noxious compound of related tendencies and opinions, including the application of radical doubt, the acceptance of moral relativism, and the imposition of political correctness. It scorns tradition and mocks the good. It silences unfashionable opinion. It stifles. It bullies. It emphasizes will over reason and ends over means. Its logic is to expand and to co-opt, for to come to rest would be its undoing. It expands in two ways: aggressively, by denouncing or ridiculing any idea that does not conform to itself, and subtly, by using social pressure and convention to implant its errors into individual and institution alike.

What follows is a list of 95 propositions calling out, Luther-like, some contemporary mistakes and misconceptions in our cultural outlook in the same way that Pope Pius IX did in 1864 with his Syllabus of Errors—a collection of false ideas condemned in previously published papal documents. Many propositions in the list below may sound familiar for they are widely, if unconsciously, held views. Many are simply leftist lies. Here is a short catalogue of wrongheadedness. It could be longer. There is more where this came from. 

I. On God
II. On the Universe
III. On Religion
IV. On Human Nature
V. On Natural Law
VI. On Society
VII. On Sexuality and Marriage
VIII. On Education
IX. On the State and Civil Law

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