--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Where conservative Catholics have the…" description: "\"Where conservative Catholics have the power to resist what seem like false ideas or disastrous innovations they must do so.\" — Ross Douthat" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/ross-douthat-2949_conservative_where-conservative-catholics-have-the-po_289136.png" --- # Where conservative Catholics have the power to resist what… ![“Where conservative Catholics have the power to resist what seem like false ideas or disastrous innovations they must do so.” quote by Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/ross-douthat-2949_conservative_where-conservative-catholics-have-the-po_289136.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/ross-douthat-2949_conservative_where-conservative-catholics-have-the-po_289136.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/061/ross-douthat-2949_conservative_where-conservative-catholics-have-the-po_289136.png) > “Where conservative Catholics have the power to resist what seem like false ideas or disastrous innovations they must do so.” [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Conservative Catholics must actively oppose ideas they deem harmful to preserve their values. **In simple terms:** They must resist false or harmful ideas. Key Takeaway Stand firm against perceived threats. Themes religion politics culture resistance Mood defensive determined Type opinion political When to use this quote - church leadership - public policy debates - media commentary Key Concepts conservatism Catholic doctrine social change Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance tradition with openness? - When is resistance justified? A Different Perspective Resistance can stifle constructive dialogue and adaptation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conservative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservative/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) ## Related quotes > [“Learn to resist but do not be un-moveable in your resistance. Resist like the water.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/learn-to-resist-but-do-not-be-un-moveable-in-your-resistance-resist/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements in daily political life in the countries where they live. They must penetrate, wherever possible,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/all-catholics-must-make-themselves-felt-as-active-elements-in-daily/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [I like how he ignores me now like I don't even exist. He's still so incredible that it's impossible to resist. I like how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-like-how-he-ignores-me-now-like-i-don-t-even-exist-he-s-still-so/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that we cannot. That is the practical difference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/true-ideas-are-those-that-we-can-assimilate-validate-corroborate-and/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is a myth that the success of science in our time is mainly due to the huge amounts of money that have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/it-is-a-myth-that-the-success-of-science-in-our-time-is-mainly-due-to/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [“Our desire to share helpful things is so powerful that it can make even false ideas succeed. Sometimes the drive to help takes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-berger/our-desire-to-share-helpful-things-is-so-powerful-that-it-can-make/) [Jonah Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-berger/) > [I suppose I've become less judgmental about individuals leading lives according to false ideas and false consciousness, because sometimes entire societies are prey to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/i-suppose-i-ve-become-less-judgmental-about-individuals-leading-lives/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Most of the world's religions serve only to strengthen attachments to false concepts such as self and other, life and death, heaven and earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/most-of-the-world-s-religions-serve-only-to-strengthen-attachments-to/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [In the field of economics we maintain to this day some of the most primitive ideas, some of the most radically false ideas, some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/in-the-field-of-economics-we-maintain-to-this-day-some-of-the-most/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [“Nothing is ever actually invented by the mind. The mind puts things together and constructs false "ideas”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jostein-gaarder/nothing-is-ever-actually-invented-by-the-mind-the-mind-puts-things/) [Jostein Gaarder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jostein-gaarder/) > [“Those ignorant "masters of our destinies" who regard humans as animals or as monstrous hybrids of natural and supernatural must be dethroned by scientific…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/those-ignorant-masters-of-our-destinies-who-regard-humans-as-animals/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/when-men-do-not-have-healthy-notions-of-the-divinity-false-ideas/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [What really makes science grow is new ideas, including false ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/what-really-makes-science-grow-is-new-ideas-including-false-ideas/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [In academic life, false ideas are merely false, and useless ones can be fun to play with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely-false-and-useless-ones-can-be/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [True opinions can prevail only if the facts to which they refer are known; if they are not known, false ideas are just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-lippmann/true-opinions-can-prevail-only-if-the-facts-to-which-they-refer-are/) [Walter Lippmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-lippmann/) ## More by Ross Douthat > [Human beings seek community, and permanent openness is hard to sustain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/human-beings-seek-community-and-permanent-openness-is-hard-to-sustain/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [The American intelligentsia has been pretty secular for a long time. There have always been figures like Oprah Winfrey, let's put it that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/the-american-intelligentsia-has-been-pretty-secular-for-a-long-time/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [On the evidence we have, the meritocratic ideal ends up being just as undemocratic as the old emphasis on inheritance and tradition, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/on-the-evidence-we-have-the-meritocratic-ideal-ends-up-being-just-as/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [“The physical vanity of the diet-and-exercise obsessive is recast as the pursuit of a kind of ritual purity, hedged about with taboos and guilt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/the-physical-vanity-of-the-diet-and-exercise-obsessive-is-recast-as/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [There were times at Harvard when I actually longed to hang out with a few more Trotskyists, rather than yet another set of future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/there-were-times-at-harvard-when-i-actually-longed-to-hang-out-with-a/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [Many things about American life, that even secular people consider good, have flowed from the presence of a robust, resilient institutional Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/many-things-about-american-life-that-even-secular-people-consider/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [“What he felt during his Spanish encounter with left-wing anti-Christianity was similar to his reactions to the anti-Christianity of the right. The "novelty and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/what-he-felt-during-his-spanish-encounter-with-left-wing-anti/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [“In an age of stagnant or declining birthrates, too, these communities’ willingness to heed the admonition to be fruitful and multiply has led to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/in-an-age-of-stagnant-or-declining-birthrates-too-these-communities/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [America's problem isn't too much religion or too little of it. It's bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/america-s-problem-isn-t-too-much-religion-or-too-little-of-it-it-s/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [I do think you can see, throughout American history, this temptation, and it's both a liberal and a conservative temptation, to take a healthy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/i-do-think-you-can-see-throughout-american-history-this-temptation/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [It is not white nationalism to believe that countries like the United States would be better off with more babies. That belief can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/it-is-not-white-nationalism-to-believe-that-countries-like-the-united/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [Most people want the convenience of the Internet far more than they want the private spaces that older forms of communication protected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/most-people-want-the-convenience-of-the-internet-far-more-than-they/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [If you live under a system that claims to have high ideals but seems ineradicably opposed to your own people's flourishing, the desire for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/if-you-live-under-a-system-that-claims-to-have-high-ideals-but-seems/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [Our crisis of the house divided was a Christian civil war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/our-crisis-of-the-house-divided-was-a-christian-civil-war/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [Independent of the critique I'm making, I'm just trying to paint a more comprehensive portrait of American religion than you get from a right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/independent-of-the-critique-i-m-making-i-m-just-trying-to-paint-a/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) [Explore all 144 Ross Douthat quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) ## More Conservative quotes > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [There's no authoritarian structure at Reed College, but the education is conservative. So what you have is a lot of students who are very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/there-s-no-authoritarian-structure-at-reed-college-but-the-education/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [Progressive Conservative candidates from Quebec want to exert real power in Ottawa, not simply be content with playing a secondary role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-campbell/progressive-conservative-candidates-from-quebec-want-to-exert-real/) [Kim Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-campbell/) > [Play small ball. Get back to basics. I would say that you need to be a conservative, but you need to maintain your independent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-tantaros/play-small-ball-get-back-to-basics-i-would-say-that-you-need-to-be-a/) [Andrea Tantaros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-tantaros/) > [I am a conservative type of person, so sometimes when I'm chilling with myself, people always come ask me, 'What's wrong with you? What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-wonder/i-am-a-conservative-type-of-person-so-sometimes-when-i-m-chilling/) [Wayne Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-wonder/) > [In the Tea Party era, it is the restless conservative Republican who has become passion's plaything, the toy of impetuous romance, an erotomania only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wolcott/in-the-tea-party-era-it-is-the-restless-conservative-republican-who/) [James Wolcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wolcott/) > [I'm a principle liberty, rule-of-law Conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-o-toole/i-m-a-principle-liberty-rule-of-law-conservative/) [Erin O'Toole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-o-toole/) > [I would say I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, if that contradiction can make sense, because in Bolivia, we have a great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gonzalo-sanchez-de-lozada/i-would-say-i-m-a-fiscal-conservative-and-a-social-liberal-if-that/) [Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gonzalo-sanchez-de-lozada/) > [My dad's quite a conservative person, and he brought me up to be very questioning of the commercial world. 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It is just that the conservative people by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-eastwood/there-are-a-lot-of-conservative-people-a-lot-of-moderate-people/) [Clint Eastwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-eastwood/) > [“Those who consider themselves ‘Conservative’ frequently identify with family values, so they should consider carefully the fact that in 1960, only 18% of women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-befumo/those-who-consider-themselves-conservative-frequently-identify-with/) [Joseph Befumo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-befumo/) > [A faithfully kept program of savings and conservative investments can give you more money and a better life than that of your neighbors who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-bryant-quinn/a-faithfully-kept-program-of-savings-and-conservative-investments-can/) [Jane Bryant Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-bryant-quinn/) > [Conservative political opinion in America cleaves to the tradition of the judge as passive interpreter, believing that his absolute loyalty to authoritative law is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/learned-hand/conservative-political-opinion-in-america-cleaves-to-the-tradition-of/) [Learned Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/learned-hand/) > [Conservative feminism is such an artificial term that doesn't mean much to me. 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