Zizek makes the point drawing on Pascal and Marx that before belief is made explicit, it is first realized in the individual through their networks of social relations and actions. Before we believe in a fully conscious way, we act in a way that the belief is already present in a hidden way. In this context, the postmodern approach has not directly assaulted the doctrines of the Church but has fundamentally altered the praxis of the Church liturgically and structurally that end result is the undermining of doctrine.

Catholics as a group have never officially repudiated the Bible and Sacred Tradition, but have already begun to behave as if this was already the case. For most, the final renunciation is only making explicit the hidden belief that was there from the beginning.

There are signs everywhere of the renunciation of tradition, but it is so subtle that it doesn’t allow itself to be unmasked. When one tries to unmask it, there is no resistance, only misunderstanding. There is only a constant deferral. Of course we believe that as you do, but now is not the right time. Of course that is the teaching of the Church, but only once this has been established will we be able to get to that point. No one denies doctrine, they defer it continuously.

In this way, the heresy of Postmodernism is a unique kind of attack on the Church. The constant deferral of tradition and the truths of the Bible are replaced by a series questions… but questions with no definitive answers. The thinking goes that to have an answer is a kind of pride, an egotistical fantasy. Nothing is certain so everything is permitted.