Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:21:50 -0500
From: pertinax carrus <perti@live.com>
Subject: Dermot II, Chapter 9

This story is fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.  These stories have as their main character a sexually
active gay teenager.  If this is offensive to you, or if it is illegal in
your area, or if you are under age, please leave now.

There is a religious element in these stories.  If you don't like that,
maybe now is a good time to leave.

Thanks to Colin for editing.

Constructive criticism is welcome on my e-mail at perti@live.com.

____________________________________________________________________


Dermot II
Chapter 9, Right and Wrong

     The next few days seemed to fly by.  Dermot's visit to the hospital on
Saturday resulted in more teasing from Dr. Rygalski, with the welcome news
that he no longer needed his crutch and leg cast.  His left leg was now
protected with support straps, but he could walk more or less normally.  He
still had a cast on his right wrist, however.  That did not prevent him
from making use of the laptop the Lyles had provided, and which he used
when taking class notes and tests.  Dermot seemed to be taking make-up
exams and regular exams every day, sometimes more than one on a given day.
He was doing well academically, with Mrs. Mattingly having agreed to an
arrangement similar to that worked out with Mr. Carlyle to cover the first
semester of the American Literature sequence.  Mr. O'Brien continued to
regard Dermot with some skepticism, however, and Dermot ran into difficulty
on the exam covering the Last Supper.  On that exam, Dermot stated that
there was no evidence in the Gospels that Jesus intended anything more than
a symbolic commemoration of his time with his closest friends.  Mr. O'Brien
marked that down considerably, and Dermot got a C when that test was handed
back on Friday.  He felt he had been unjustly graded, and complained to the
teacher.
     "You neglected the evidence from St. John's Gospel," Mr. O'Brien
stated.
     "But St. John does not mention what you call the institution of the
Eucharist," Dermot protested.
     "Look it up in the textbook," the teacher responded.  "I see you're
one of those Catholic butts."
     "'Catholic butts?'  What's that?"
     "You run across them all the time.  People who will tell you, 'Of
course I'm Catholic, but ...' and then go on to tell you which Catholic
teachings they don't accept," O'Brien said with distaste.
     "No, sir, you're mistaken.  I'm not a Catholic butt.  I'm not Catholic
at all," Dermot said, as he returned to his seat, still dissatisfied.
     At lunch time, he continued to complain about his grade, and
Mr. O'Brien's response to his question.  "I still say there is nothing
relevant to the institution of the Eucharist in John's Gospel," he
insisted.
     "Dermot, you're wrong this time," Lando told him.  "It's true there is
no mention in the account of the Last Supper, but you're ignoring the
evidence in Chapter 6."
     "Chapter 6!  That's way back there.  That's not the Last Supper!"
     "True, but it's relevant to the issue of the Eucharist.  That's where
Jesus says, 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his
blood, you shall not have life in you.'"
     "Oh," Dermot said, somewhat deflated.  "Well, he still could have been
speaking symbolically."
     "When Jesus said that, many of his followers began to leave him.  Did
he say, 'Hey, wait, guys.  I didn't mean that literally?'  No, he did not.
He let them go.  I don't think he would have let them go away if he had not
meant what he said," Lando insisted.
     "But that's impossible.  How can a little bit of wheat or cup of wine
actually be the body and blood of someone?  Besides, with all the communion
wafers and cups of wine, that would make Jesus' body about the size of
Jupiter or something," Dermot insisted.
     "I know.  There's no way it could be true if we stick to a purely
scientific or secular view of reality.  But we are not dealing with science
here.  The Church insists that every Mass is a miracle, and that's not
something which is subject to scientific verification.  I believe it, not
because I can prove it somehow, but because Jesus said it."
     Dermot sighed.  When it came to matters of religion, either you
believed or you didn't, and there did not seem to be any use in arguing
about it.
     In the Current Events class, however, Bob Lynch seemed to be more
argumentative than ever.  Each day, he would challenge the majority of the
class, because each day there was some item in the news which evoked
responses based on some assessment of right and wrong.  And each time, Bob
would present an opposing opinion, and insist it was just as valid as the
dominant one, as there was no such thing as an objective right or wrong.
Morality, he insisted, was not like mathematics.  There simply was no
objectively correct answer.  What was accepted as right was whatever
society agreed on, and it could change from time to time, and place to
place.  Bob defended the reputation of Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.  Not
the current one, but his father.  After all, he got things done, and the
budget balanced, so who cared whether he had a few dead people vote, or
used connections with the crime bosses to lean on his opponents?  To say
'That's not right!' is meaningless.
     Dermot took an active part in these classes, but he was unsure of his
position on the more abstract issues when Bob raised them.  Bob continually
insisted that morality was an artificial construct, and practically
speaking was whatever the dominant elements in society decided it was.
Public opinion decided whether homosexuality was immoral or not.  Public
opinion decided whether various entertainment figures living together and
having children out of wedlock was immoral or not.  Public opinion decided
whether a congressman having sex with his pages, male or female, was
immoral or not.  It seemed to Dermot that an awful lot of the discussions
about what was moral or immoral had to do with sex, and people got very
emotional about that subject.  A different view was presented, however,
during class on Friday when the discussion again centered on the inclusion
of funding for abortions in the proposed health care plan before Congress.
Bob again insisted that there was no objective right or wrong involved, but
only what the public would accept.  He also called the position of the
pro-life movement another attempt to regulate people's sex lives.
     "Now wait a minute," Diane Pedigo objected.  "I think we discussed
this more than once before.  Not everything is a matter of sex.  What most
of us are concerned about is not whether someone is having sex or not, but
about the life of a human being.  Why can't you see that this is not about
sex at all."
     "Yeah, I agree," Nate Greenwell stated.  That really surprised Dermot,
as Nate seldom volunteered anything, and had never disagreed with Bob
before.  But, against all expectations, he added, "I remember a priest
saying once that there were ten commandments, and sex only came in two of
them, about adultery and coveting someone else's wife."  Nate then clammed
up, as though he were embarrassed at having expressed an opinion.  Dermot
also noted that Nate was not sitting next to Bob the last few classes.
     To continue the discussion, Dermot contributed, "Bob keeps saying that
the dominant opinion of society is sufficient to decide what is right and
what is wrong, but this issue of abortion seems to indicate that his
position has holes in it.  How do we decide what is right when society is
seriously divided on something important like this.  Bob said earlier that
slavery only became wrong when enough people decided it was wrong, but
don't forget, we had to have a bloody civil war to settle that issue.  Do
we have to have another bloodletting whenever there is a serious division
in society?"
     "I hope not," Bob replied.  "But that only reinforces my position.
Public morality is whatever the people in charge say it is.  The North won,
so slavery became wrong.  Might makes right."
     That kept the class going until the end of the period.
     After dinner that Friday, Walt Lyle again called Dermot into the
library for an update on his legal affairs.  "Following on what you so
generously suggested, we have reached agreement with your uncle's court
appointed lawyer, Sean O'Keefe.  An amount equal to the weekly allotment
provided by your uncle for household expenses will be paid to your aunt out
of the checking account in your uncle's name.  In return, we were told that
this account is one of three items at the bank in the name of Stephen
M. Barry.  There is this checking account, a savings account, and a safe
deposit box.  The first two do not contain any extraordinary amount of
cash, but I will seek a court order giving us access to the safe deposit
box."
     "That sounds promising," Dermot said.  "Uncle Steve would most likely
squirrel away anything he had that he thought might be questioned.  What
about the bookie?"
     "Oh, yes.  That was another part of the deal.  We have a name and an
address, but getting information from him might be a problem.  We'll have
to see how that goes."
     "Sounds like progress, even if slow progress," Dermot assessed.
     "It was a brilliant move on your part to make provision for your aunt
and cousin.  I think that really impressed the lawyer for Steve and Zach
Barry.  Of course, he can't say anything, but I get the impression
Mr. O'Keefe does not think much of his clients," Walt confided.
     "Neither do I," Dermot replied.
     On a totally unrelated matter, Lando noticed that Jason and Emily
seemed to have gotten together.  Emily came home from that dance on Friday
looking very happy indeed.  On Saturday, she spent hours on the phone, with
the name Jason repeated more than once.  And on Monday, Jason grinned and
blushed when asked about his date with Lando's sister.  "Don't worry," he
told the concerned brother, "we haven't done anything."  Then he paused,
and maliciously added, "Yet."  Unfortunately, as far as keeping track of
this romance was concerned, Emily had a different lunch period, so she was
not around when the boys discussed her and Jason.
     Sunday, March 28th, was Palm Sunday.  Dermot remembered that Palm
Sunday was not only the commemoration of Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, which is where he joined the Religion class, but, of
considerably greater importance to him, it was one week before Easter and
the end of Lent.  Thinking of his own romance, he began dropping hints to
Lando about what might happen in a short time. Lando smiled enigmatically,
kissed him, but declined to engage in specific plans.
     While the Lyles were at church that Sunday, Dermot read the Sunday
newspaper, knowing something in there would be the topic of discussion in
the Current Events class the next day.  He got through the national news,
and was beginning the local section, when he ran across a short article
which caused him to panic.  It was only a brief article, but it mentioned
that Charles W.  Wilhoit, son of local power broker Willard S. Wilhoit, had
been arrested for assaulting a teenager and had his attorney's license
suspended, but his father was attempting to get the license restored.
Then, on the editorial page, there was a column highly critical of the
Wilhoits and the effort of the elder Wilhoit to use his influence to obtain
special treatment for his son.  After reading this, Dermot was so disturbed
that he could do nothing but fret and pace until Lando came to pick him up
for the weekly Sunday dinner at Whispering Hills Country Club.
     Lando had not seen the papers as yet, and so could not elaborate on
the story.  When they arrived at the club, the boys immediately asked Walt
Lyle about the story.  Dermot was concerned that everyone at school would
know that he had been assaulted while hustling, which would not only ruin
his reputation, but that of Lando as well.  Walt sat the boys on either
side of him, and patiently explained the situation.  He had read the
article and the editorial, and had read both more closely than Dermot.  He
reminded the boys that he had informed them previously that Wilhoit was
attempting to undermine the case against his son.  He pointed out that the
reporter who wrote the article evidently had little more than the bald
record of the arraignment of Chuck Wilhoit and court house rumors about
what the elder Wilhoit was up to.  Dermot was not named.  Neither were the
others who were accused with Chuck Wilhoit.  An anonymous teenager had been
assaulted.  Nothing was said about what the teenager was doing, or why he
was assaulted.  All the editorial was concerned with was the effort of the
Wilhoits to pull strings.  Walt further noted that the editorial policies
of the newspaper heavily favored one of the two major political parties,
whereas the Wilhoits were prominent members of the opposing party.  The
paper had been highly critical of the elder Wilhoit often in the past.
This was not, so far at least, something to panic about.
     Only somewhat reassured, Dermot spent much of Sunday worrying about
what he should say or do if the topic were raised in Current Events.  Could
he persuade Mrs. Martinez to overrule the topic if it were raised?  That
did not seem likely.  So far, no topic had been off the table.  Maybe he
would skip class.  But then he would not know what was said.  Could he
somehow direct the discussion away from any focus on him if he were there?
So many questions, so few answers.
     Shortly before four o'clock, Lando appeared to ask whether Dermot
would be okay for a few hours.  He explained that he and Mark would be
serving dinner to the homeless at a shelter run by the St. Vincent de Paul
Society.  They did that on a regular basis, and the rotation brought their
time around again.  Dermot did not remember that, or what he might have
said in reply.  He was so distraught that it passed over his head entirely.
Twice during the next few hours, he asked someone where Lando was, and
twice was told, only to forget again in his anxiety.  When Lando got home
around seven, Dermot asked where he had been.
     On Monday, Dermot was still highly nervous about the article.  For the
first time, he went to school unprepared for his other classes.  He had not
eaten much, and he had not slept well.  Lando was worried about his
boyfriend, but did not know how to comfort him.  Everyone else was aware of
Dermot's deep concern, and cut him some slack when he gave sharp responses
to their efforts to encourage him.  Dermot had even been impolite to Sandy
Lyle, although he apologized later.
     American History and Jesus in the Gospels went past without leaving a
trace on Dermot's consciousness.  Even the exchange between Lando and Jason
about Emily and the dance washed over him without effect.  During his first
study hall, he just sat there and stared into the distance.  Coach Duvall
asked whether he were all right, and he did not even answer.
     Then eleven o'clock came, and it was time to go to his Current Events
class.  Dermot clung to the hope that no one would mention the article or
the editorial.  After all, there were other national and world events which
might be discussed.  But about half way through the class there it was.
And, of all people, it was Diane who raised the issue.
     "Did anyone else notice the editorial in the paper about a local
lawyer and member of the city council trying to pull strings to get his son
out of trouble?  Doesn't that bring us back to the issue we discussed last
week, about Mayor Daley using questionable tactics to accomplish his goals.
Is there any such thing as an honest politician?"
     Only a portion of the class had paid attention to those items in the
paper, but most had heard of Willard Wilhoit, and knew something about his
string-pulling reputation.  There was considerable cynicism when it came to
politicians in general, echoing Diane's question about the possibility of
an honest one even existing.  But that same cynicism was also applied to
the news media.  By this point in the semester, after analyzing coverage
from many sources, the class had little respect for the media.  As one
student pointed out, the local newspaper was strongly Democratic, and
managed to excuse the antics of members of that party, whereas it condemned
Wilhoit and others for what seemed to be very similar activities.  Not
necessarily in this specific case, but in various incidents over the past
few years.  The Wilhoits were prominent in the Republican Party.  There was
talk of a double standard, and shaping the news to fit an ideological
agenda.
     This, of course, was a perfect occasion for Bob Lynch to reiterate his
mantra that there was no objective right or wrong when it came to moral
issues.  Whatever the dominant elements in a society decided was what was
right, and history bore out his contention.  Another student attempted to
refute him by bringing up the Holocaust.  Surely, everyone could agree that
such a thing was morally wrong.  No, Bob insisted, pain was an objective
fact, and the killing of millions of people was an objective fact, but when
it came to passing moral judgements, that was a matter of opinion.  No
doubt, those who were victims of the Holocaust suffered pain, and no doubt
there were millions of them, but whether this was right or wrong depends on
one's viewpoint.  From the Nazi viewpoint, this was a good thing.  That
statement shocked most of the class, but Bob insisted that he was only
being rational.
     Once again it was Diane who quite innocently insisted on bringing up
the very issues Dermot wanted avoided.  She spoke up in an attempt to bring
the discussion back to something everyone could relate to.  The Holocaust
might be too far in the past, like the crusades or the inquisition, for
anyone to feel personally involved, but what about things that happened in
the lifetime of the students themselves?  What about the murder of Matthew
Shepherd, only about ten years ago?  But again Bob argued that, while the
killing and robbery were objective facts, assigning a moral value to those
facts was merely subjective opinion.  McKinley and Henderson, the two men
who killed Shepherd, obviously thought it was right to attack a gay person.
     Dermot could no longer remain silent.  He had been quite pleased while
his class mates debated the politics of Mayor Daley or the morality of the
Holocaust, as that kept the discussion safely away from him, but when it
focused on the murder of a gay person, he became agitated and highly
nervous.  This was too close to home for him to remain uninvolved, so he
began to speak about the very thing he had hoped to avoid.
     "I can't debate philosophy with Bob," he said.  "I don't understand
where he's coming from.  But it seems to me that some things are right or
wrong as a matter of common human experience, and the torture of Matthew
Shepherd is a good example of that.  Pain, yes, but also the viciousness of
the torture has to be considered.  I can sure relate to that.  You all know
when I first came in here I was on crutches and was in pretty bad shape.
That was no car accident or something: that was because four guys beat the
shit out of me."  Mrs. Martinez looked as though she were about to object
to the language, but Dermot moved on quickly.  "I was not beaten nearly as
badly as Matthew Shepherd, as is obvious from the fact that I am here now.
And I'm sure those guys who beat me and left me unconscious in a back alley
thought they were pretty cool, but I sure as hell don't.  It's not just the
physical pain Bob talks about, but the attitude which surrounds inflicting
pain which has to be considered.  When you have a personal run-in with
evil, you know it's real, and not just a matter of opinion."
     That brought a hush to the classroom, but before there was a response,
anticlimactically the bell rang bringing the period to a conclusion.  As
students began to file out of the room, Bob approached Dermot.
     "I didn't mean anything personal," he said.
     "Whatever.  Ideas have consequences that are just as real as your
material facts," Dermot responded, "and I don't want to be around to
experience the consequences of your ideas."
     Bob walked away.  Mrs. Martinez came over to Dermot.
     "Are you all right?  You look upset."
     "I didn't want to talk about that piece in the paper.  That was me who
got beat up.  But I couldn't keep quiet when Bob went on about it being
okay from the viewpoint of the attackers of Matthew Shepherd.  It was too
close to home."
     "I understand.  It was very brave of you to speak up.  And you made a
point that I hope all the other students think about," Mrs. Martinez said.
     When Lando came in for home room, he found Dermot actually shaking, he
was so wrought up.
     "Hey, boyfriend, what's wrong?" Lando asked.
     "I don't know.  I mean, I'm really upset, but I don't know whether
it's because I'm angry, or because I'm frustrated, or because I'm scared."
     "Or all three?"
     "Yeah, all three.  Bob is really getting under my skin.  I don't give
a damn how clever he thinks he is, or how enlightened, or whatever he
thinks he is, when he starts supporting violence and just plain inhuman
actions, like the Holocaust and killing Matthew Shepherd, there's something
wrong."
     "I know that, and you know that, but convincing Bob may be impossible.
We argued about that back before I met you," Lando said.
     A short time later, as Lando and Dermot entered the cafeteria, they
were surprised to find Nate Greenwell seated at the table with Diane and
Mike.  They navigated towards that table, being careful to avoid going too
near Jack and his football cronies this time.
     "Hi, Nate.  You decided to ruin your reputation by sitting with the
outcasts?" Lando asked.
     "Just got tired of Bob," Nate responded laconically.
     "Yeah, he kind of got my goat today, too," Dermot said.  "I guess you
noticed."
     "You did good," Nate complimented him.
     "Yes, you really did, Dermot," Diane seconded that motion.  "Bob kind
of gets on everyone's nerves eventually.  He likes to be noticed."
     "Do you think he really believes the stuff he says in class?" Dermot
asked.
     "I don't know.  I can't tell what's real and what's just wanting to
make a splash.  He likes to push people's buttons, get a reaction, you
know," Diane said.
     "I think Bob really believes most of what he says.  There for a while,
we were kind of close, and we talked some, just the two of us.  No reason
for him to show off just for me," Nate said.
     "I agree," Lando contributed.  "I was kind of close with him for a
while, too.  His negative outlook and cynicism eventually got to be too
much for me, just like Nathan here."
     "Not Nathan, Ignatius," Nate responded.
     "Antioch or Loyola?" Lando asked.
     "Antioch."
     "What's that all about?" Dermot wanted to know.  "You talking some
kind of code or something?"
     "I just asked Nate whether he was named for St. Ignatius of Antioch or
St. Ignatius of Loyola," Lando explained.
     "Actually, I was named for my uncle, but St. Ignatius of Antioch is my
patron saint.  My uncle doesn't like the Jesuits much.  Says they're always
jumping on the latest bandwagon."
     "Geez, you guys talk about the weirdest things," Dermot sighed.  "Can
we get back to Bob?"
     "In a way, we never left that topic.  If the Jesuits are always
jumping on the latest bandwagon, as Nate says, then they's upholding Bob's
point of view.  There's no objective right or wrong, just whatever is
popular at the moment," Lando replied.
     "Well, I never heard that even the Jesuits denied the existence of
God.  That's when I decided Bob was too far out for me," Nate said.
     "You've known Bob for a while, Lando.  Isn't there some way to shoot
down his cynical outlook?" Dermot asked.
     Lando thought it interesting that Dermot objected to a cynical
outlook, but decided not to pursue that topic.  "Not really," he answered.
"Yeah, I tried last semester, but Bob's right about some things.  If you
leave out God, there really is no compelling reason to adopt one moral
position over another.  I mean, most folks would think justifying the
Holocaust was terrible and inhumane, but Bob would just say that's just
their opinion.  It's the dominant opinion today because Germany lost World
War II, but if they had won, killing Jews and other 'inferior' people, like
gays, would be considered a good thing.  And the guys who killed Shepard
would agree with that.  The fact is, you have to have some standard by
which to measure things if you're going to say something is right or wrong.
For most of us, it's the traditional Judeo-Christian ethical system, which
assumes the existence of God who sets an objective standard of morality.
Then we can see how close or how far we are from that standard.  But, if
you throw out God, what are you comparing your actions to, in order to say
they're good or bad?"
     "What about human nature?  In that class, I said there were things
almost everyone agreed on just because we're human," Dermot argued.
     "Well, yes, you could argue that way, but why accept human nature as
the standard?  And anyway someone could come back and deny that there is
any such thing as an objective human nature.  Human beings do act and
believe differently from time to time and place to place.  Bob is right
about that.  Generally speaking, the people who reject God as a standard
also reject any objective natural law based on human nature.  It's true,
most Americans can agree on a lot of things, but that's because we share
the common Christian heritage.  If you toss that, there really isn't
anything to judge by."
     "In class Dermot said he had experienced evil when he was beaten up.
Isn't that some kind of objective evidence?" Diane wanted to know.
     "Yeah.  And I also experienced good when some weird family named Lyle
took me in for no known reason," Dermot said, nudging Lando.
     "Buttering me up is great for my ego," Lando admitted, "but it's not
rational argument.  Bob would still be able to say that's only your
subjective opinion of good and evil."
     "You sound like Bob," Dermot objected.  "What about the common good,
then?  What about just treating everyone decently?"
     "Dermot, you know I don't agree with Bob.  I'm just trying to show
where he's coming from.  I argued with him about these things many times.
If you toss God, how can you tell what is for the common good, and why
should you care anyway?  Why treat everyone decently?  Why not just focus
on what you want?"
     "Did any of you see the movie The Silence of the Lambs?" Diane asked.
"I watched it on DVD last weekend.  There is a character who fits what you
say perfectly, Lando.  He's called Hannibal Lecter.  Absolutely brilliant,
and totally self-contained."
     "Sounds good.  But how does that fit what we were talking about?"
Dermot asks.
     "Well, it seems Lecter has this little quirk.  He likes eating
people's hearts.  He's a serial killer and a cannibal.  Hannibal the
cannibal."
     "Yuck!  That's gross!" Mike said.
     "Yeah.  Most people would agree.  But he fits the ideology Lando was
talking about," Diane pointed out.
     "Yeah, he does.  Bob and I watched that movie together once, when we
were close.  I had the same reaction as Mike.  The guy is played by Anthony
Hopkins, and he's brilliant in the roll, but also totally scary.  I was
disgusted to think such a person might exist, but you know what?  Bob
thought the character was really cool.  He said anyone who was so totally
self-contained like that was his hero," Lando said.
     "That's frightening," Dermot said.  "Do you think Bob would do
something like that?"
     "Oh, I doubt it," Lando replied.  "But you never know for sure.  I'm
reminded of Leopold and Loeb."
     "Okay, I'll bite.  Who are Leopold and Loeb?" Dermot asked.
     "We covered that in history.  Oh, yeah, that was before you joined the
class, back in the Roaring Twenties.  Seems that there were these two guys,
smart, from affluent families, everything going for them.  They tortured
and killed some guy, just to see what it would feel like.  Obviously, they
weren't as smart as they thought, because they got caught, but that makes
you wonder how many don't get caught.  In the movie, Lecter is initially in
a prison for the criminally insane.  He's a total sociopath.  He got
caught, too, but he eventually escapes.  Bob said he's only following his
own ideas of what is good, and claims society can refute him only by
appealing to brute force, in other words, ganging up on him and
overpowering him and putting him in jail."
     "But that's only just.  We must consider what is best for the common
good, like not harming anyone," Dermot said.
     "Again, Bob would say all an individual, especially a highly
intelligent individual, must do is satisfy his own needs and desires.  In
other words, be totally fulfilled.  For Lecter, that means eating other
people's hearts.  Why should he be concerned about anyone else?  And as far
as justice, there is no such thing.  There is only the more powerful
imposing their wills on the less powerful.  Might makes right," Lando
insisted.
     "I'm really surprised at you, Lando," Diane said.  "You sound just
like Bob."
     "No.  You missed what I said a few minutes ago.  I believe in God and
the teachings of the Church, but Bob doesn't.  He is right, you know, when
he says that, from a purely rational point of view there is no way to
arrive at a system of morality on any basis except consensus or might.
That supports my view, which is that human reason alone is insufficient to
deal with reality.  That's why God gave us revelation.  I accept
St. Anselm's position that you need a firm starting point even to make
sense of reason, and that starting point is faith.  Credo, ut intelligam I
believe in order to understand.  Without the light of faith, any system of
morality can be defended rationally, so the result is the majority or the
more powerful impose their moral values on the minority or less powerful.
You can call that unjust, but on what grounds?  That's merely a matter of
opinion."
     "Now that is really scary," Dermot said.
     "Well, boyfriend, you don't have to worry.  Like Hannibal, I want your
heart, but not to eat it.  And you can count on me, because you know what
my standard of right and wrong is.  My God does not approve of using other
people for my own pleasure.  But, like you said before, ideas do have
consequences."