The process of secularization has had a profound influence on the West. It’s understandable, then, that many people have no interest in the Catholic religion. Thus, they live apart from it. But is this disinterest logical? Let’s consider it.

In numerous instances, this disinterest stems solely from a profound lack of knowledge about the religion, but it is irrational to judge something based solely on ignorance. To rationally judge a religion, one must know something about it. To see its reality with the eyes of the soul, one must set aside prejudices and stop coloring reality with distorting feelings and passions and instead seek the truth.

If a non-believer views it in this way, they will soon perceive the immense greatness of Christ’s person, his conduct, and his moral message. Jesus Christ is the one who has taught humanity what true love consists of. They will also discover that this religion contains important ethical values: love, purity, courage, strength, generosity, theocentric humanism, recognition of human dignity, defense of human life… In it, they will find moral elements so sublime that they will not find them anywhere else. They will discover that there have been many exemplary, very holy Catholics.

Your research will show you that many Catholics have been happy. You will be amazed that so much truth, happiness, and good can be found in that religion.

You will realize that the Christian religion has provided much wisdom and many wise people, even the most outstanding. Likewise, you will also realize that it has yielded great cultural, artistic, and scientific fruits… You will marvel at the vastness of its knowledge of God and humankind.

Now, if a tree produces many splendid fruits, it possesses a good virtue. Therefore, the attitude of a non-believer who is uninterested in the entirety of the Catholic religion is irrational, illogical, immature, and childish.

The Catholic religion is a powerful restraint on passions. If the Catholic faith is abandoned, that restraint is removed. But a car without brakes will eventually crash. The de-Christianization of a large society leads to a significant increase in crime. Moreover, this, which is logical, can be statistically confirmed. In this respect, non-believers have a reason not to dismiss the religion entirely.

What has been said so far can be applied to the actions of some public figures. Indeed, some politicians, on the one hand, appear committed to preventing the destruction of nature, to ensuring respect for women, to respecting those who are different, to avoiding murder, suicide, theft, corruption… and, on the other hand, they promote de-Christianization; they want a society without Christ. But by removing Christianity, they remove the restraint, without which what they claimed to want to prevent will occur. It is illogical not to want the effects—theft, etc.—while wanting the cause—de-Christianization—from which they follow.

There are also public figures who, on the one hand, want to be highly credible, and on the other, their disinterest in religion includes hostility toward some of its moral truths, so that they promote abortion, euthanasia, the destruction of marriage, the permissibility of lying… Such disinterest in religion greatly undermines their credibility. For if it is already difficult to act rightly when good principles exist, what can be expected when these are lacking?

Another form of disinterest in religion stems from the fact that, since faith and reason are not the same, faith is considered a disease of the intellect, something irrational. But I can know things not only through reason. I also know truthfully, for example, when someone entirely trustworthy, who knows the truth, faithfully communicates it to me, as well as when something is perfectly clear before my eyes. Therefore, the fact that faith and reason are different does not imply that faith is irrational or contrary to reason.

Since the non-believer will eventually discover that it is quite interesting to look up to some of the wonders transmitted by the Catholic religion, they will move from their initial rejection to a certain openness. In fact, the mindset of true sages is not closed but open, since reality requires openness.

In short, the nonbeliever, if he looks at the Catholic religion, will discover that he must open himself up and take an interest in elements of it, thus taking a first step towards the recognition that the Catholic religion is the truth and that it makes known to us in the fullest way everything that is truly important.