Dogma, Doctrine and Messing Up

I was recently told that dogma creates trouble; people just need to be nice to each other, we don’t need dogma.

The person who told me this was not Catholic, but I’m not sure it makes a difference in what the statement meant.

I can’t speak for other beliefs, but the Catholic Church rarely defines dogma.  One of the things that distinguishes dogmata from doctrines is that a dogma must be divinely revealed.  That is a distinctly limiting factor.  Jimmy Akins reminds us that the term ‘dogma’ has itself undergone a change.  Prior to 1700, the term was used to describe opinions.  Clearly that meaning has changed.

But we do have dogmata.