In opposites there is Truth
The move towards a deeper devotion to God invariably causes a deepening separation between the Christian and "everything else". This separation is easily observable and takes place in both hearts. Everything else, sensing the Christian’s disdain of their common milieu, grows equally disdainful of the Christian.
This separation is a truth. In Christian phraseology, it is the clash between the mind that comprehends God and the mind which is reprobate.
But it also reveals a much deeper truth about the nature of God's Church. While Christians may claim not to be heretics, dissenters, rebellious, prideful . . . so many openly declare it. Going back to the concept of Christian disdain of the common milieu . . . the much deeper truth is that everything else's disdain for the Christian is created by the other Christian denominations' disdain for the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church disdains no one. The Roman Catholic Church comforts and protects the common milieu.
The much deeper truth? The meaning of the word "Christian" has been hijacked, weakened and cheapened by heretics, dissenters, rebels, and the prideful. Going forward, the word "Christian" ought to be replaced with the word "Catholic".
The word Catholic removes the leven from the bread.
There is no compromise here. He who declares himself a moderate and calls out both sides as being extremist, in fact, works in favour of everything else. Calling the Catholic’s disdain for sin the same as the world’s disdain for puritanism puts purity in the same light as sin.
The Catholic separates as he comes to understand the motivations behind his sin. As he grows in his understanding of God, he comes to understand the distinct separation of spirit and flesh. Without Grace, he has no chance of protecting his flesh against the advances of sin.
Therefore, man’s focus must be on maintaining the authority of his spirit over his flesh. Upon this realization, he suddenly sees sin manifesting all around and seeks to isolate himself from it, lest he be drawn in. He excuses himself from a daily life that accepts and rationalizes this iniquity and moves toward ideals that counteract sin and master temptation. Only in this state may he ask for God’s Grace, the only means by which the mind of man can ever achieve lasting happiness and comfort.
But how can the atheist’s growing disdain towards the Catholic be explained? The Catholic knows not to judge those that are outside, so he ought to have no feeling towards the atheist other than Christian love. Yet, the atheist's disdain is a feeling that must be based on a previous experience interacting with a Catholic. So, the first explanation for the atheist’s disdain is an eye for an eye; you judge me, I judge you. There is no other scientific or quantifiable explanation. Disdain cannot be based on the Catholic ideals of purity – I don’t like you because you are too peaceful, humble or virtuous.
The atheist has disdain because he feels judged by the Catholic’s belief system. The Catholic’s disdain must be clearly directed not at the sinner, but at the sin.
Catholics who tolerate sinners among themselves are disdainful of the sinner. Tolerance is not love. Tolerance is disdain.
Catholics who refuse to understand this difference cannot grow closer to God and drive the non-believers further away. When any individual passes judgement on another, it will surely lead to antagonism. The role of the Catholic is to properly focus the disdain on the sin itself and to make it very clear to the atheist that this is the object of his scorn. At that point, when the atheist nevertheless pulls away from him, the Catholic can now ask the question, “Why do you resist me?”
At that point, the atheist mind will have to acknowledge that it is most interested in defending its right to sin and that the right to sin is its definition of freedom.
What is "freedom"? This is the proper debate between the Catholic and everyone else.