Terrified of Conscience
by S. M. Hutchens
“Conscience terrorist,” a term apparently coined by Dr. Elfriede Kreuzeder (1927–2013) for those who opposed her crusade to ordain women in the Austrian Old Catholic Church, is really a very good addition to the Devil’s Dictionary, to designate people who insist that adherence to the natural dictates of conscience is an act of terrorism.
Following vivid examples in Dante, Lewis, or Gary Larson, one may expect people to make their own beds in hell while on this earth. Extrapolate to a final state in which a person is assigned to a circle of existence where conscience (as witness to the inescapable Word) remains, no longer a counselor, but a terror.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
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