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The holy act of voting
Pope Benedict XVI and Catholic Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke both recently characterized voting as a moral act with spiritual consequences.
The pope said that "decriminalizing abortion is a betrayal to democracy," since he believes the procedure denies rights to the unborn. Burke called voting a "serious moral obligation" and added that Catholics "can never vote for someone who favors absolutely what's called the 'right to choice.'"
If Catholics largely disregard the church's teaching (the 2008 Catholic vote for president went to pro-choice Obama), does what the pope says matter? Is voting a religious act or purely political?
Most Pagans love democracy and voting, why shouldn't we? Pagans invented it! Whether you place the start of "people power" (Demos Kratos) with ancient Athens, or cast further back to parts of India, Mesopotamia, or various indigenous societies, few can deny that the concept and practice of democracy originated in pre-Christian minds and societies (just ask the Founding Fathers). By contrast, the Catholic state of Vatican City is a sacerdotal-monarchical state, with the Bishop of Rome at its head. The president of the Pontifical Commission, the leader of the city-state's legislative body, is appointed by the Pope, not elected by citizens or chosen by representatives. Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, was able to thrive and become the world religion it is today thanks to the rulers of an ever-increasingly less republican Roman Empire in decline and the patronage of European monarchies after the Empire's collapse. I say this not to demonize Christians or Catholics, only to point out the current irony of the Pope deciding what a "betrayal to democracy" is when he himself does not participate in one.
As for Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke's comments, I can only say that I live in fear for the day when members of various dominant faith groups start voting lock-step with the pronouncements of their spiritual leaders, because true democracy would soon wither and die in such an environment. Luckily, when people are given free exercise over who will represent and rule them, they tend to make up their own minds. Yes, faith and faith leaders can influence and inform them, but ultimately voting citizens are alone with their ballot and are faced with a decision: who do I want to guide my government? At that moment of choice is when great leaders tremble, for while people can be bullied, scammed, shamed, or intimidated, that moment of decision remains. It is why, even today, groups work to trick people into thinking they've lost the right to vote, or try to disenfranchise as many as possible, hoping they can cull from the rolls those that would oppose their agendas. The threat of spiritual ostracism, the tool that some faiths use to enforce their social teachings or political agendas, is just another method of trying to encroach on that holy moment of free, anonymous, voting.
Did I just call voting holy? Well so it is (remember, invented by Pagans). But does that make it a religious act? Perhaps only in the sense that it is the moment when intermediaries are removed. When our own judgment is honored, however briefly, and we are left to interpret what is best for our lives and the lives of those around us. The best religious teachers, philosophers, and mystics have all worked to move us away from institutions that would do our thinking for us. Those who would have us move in concert with a single group or power, no matter what our conscience or experience told us, are not to be trusted.
Sir Winston Churchill said that democracy is the "worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Maybe we'll encounter a better way of governing in the future, or so my anarchist friends tell me, but until then modern democracies with their checks and balances are the best form of opposing tyranny, whether political or theological. So when you enter the voting booth, strip away all outside allegiances, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Green, Libertarian, Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan, and ask yourself, who are these men and women who want to represent me, how do I personally feel about their policies and positions? How will they treat me while in office? How will they treat my family, my friends, my neighbors? What do I know about them outside of their campaign slogans and the opponents attack ads? Wrestle with yourself, find your true will, and engage in that moment of people power knowing you are joining a tradition of freedom stretching back to the first struggles of civilization against tyrants.
By
Jason_Pitzl-Waters
|
November 1, 2010; 2:40 PM ET
| Category:
Catholicism
,
Pagan
,
politics
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Posted by: LeticiaVelasquez1 | November 15, 2010 10:37 PM
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Jason,
"...I can only say that I live in fear for the day when members of various dominant faith groups start voting lock-step with the pronouncements of their spiritual leaders,..."
Dude, that's already happening.
Posted by: PSolus | November 6, 2010 2:47 PM
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Yeah, that's right, Pofinpa, no one actually cares. we just dragged you here against your will to deliberately waste your ample attention span. :)
Posted by: APaganplace | November 4, 2010 4:22 PM
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more religious BS. vote for who u want but spare us ur reasons. who cares?
Posted by: pofinpa | November 3, 2010 4:25 PM
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Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar...", so I pay my taxes, obey the law, and vote. I don't need a church leader to tell me how,
:-)
Posted by: schafer-family | November 2, 2010 5:46 PM
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The Vatican's intrusion into OUR politics is a PRIME example of an attempt to force a particular Religion's (Dark Ages) dogma into our (what should be, and remain) secular government.
If you actually believe that the Vatican is infallible then you need to ask how that belief fits the thousands of pedophiles hidden for decades in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican, above all other cults should keep out of OUR politics!
Posted by: lufrank1 | November 2, 2010 4:05 PM
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By the way, I was going to react strongly to your title of voting as a "holy act." In the context in which you use it, it is fine - although it is neither a matter of ethics or "holiness," but merely a civil duty in a democracy - as you point out. It is "special," not in the sense of having one right answer to its demands, that are God-given, but rather in the sense that it may express the heart of who we are and who/what we hope to become. In that sense, and in that sense alone, it is "holy," and not a duty to be lightly given over to others and their opinions. We get the government we deserve.
Posted by: garoth | November 2, 2010 12:49 PM
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I always liked Martin Luther's statement that he'd rather have a pagan king who knew how to rule properly, than a Christian one who didn't.
Posted by: garoth | November 2, 2010 12:43 PM
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What's a betrayal to democracy is letting someone else dictate how you vote.
Posted by: bucinka8 | November 2, 2010 11:37 AM
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I think the Church's repeated demands that Catholics vote on the single issue of abortion makes them in large part responsible for all the other things the anti-choice candidates they've de facto pushed into office have done, including in terms of ill-treatment of the poor, the wars, the waste, the environmental devastation, the homelessness, the bullying, the institutionalized greed, the homophobic injustices, and all the rest.
Catholic religious views on abortion are essentially based in a religious belief about where the human experience begins and what a soul is, and who gets to decide. If there weren't a lot of different ideas about it, it wouldn't be *controversial.*
And if an issue like this is, clearly and observably, that controversial, that's a very good sign that these matters should be left to the individual conscience.
Popes can as easily say, 'Catholics shouldn't choose this,' as 'Catholics should impose this on all people with government power.'
Criminalizing abortion does very real harm to women and society: If you don't like it (And, honestly, who really does) then the way to go about it is to educate about contraception, and to make other options more viable.
It's essentially *anti-democratic* to try and force people to vote on a single-issue and take the rest of what comes with the anti-choice position. It's nothing less than oppression of the very freedom it seeks to use as a means to an end.
Posted by: APaganplace | November 2, 2010 10:49 AM
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a betrayal to democracy and his own theology that make him infallible,
if his own theology do not stop or eliminate abortion, democracy for sure wo,nt.
yes, democracy is about the freedom of choice and action but freedom of choice and action do not guaranty justice nor control morality and immorality,nor establish the criterion and scale between what is right and what is wrong.
Posted by: mono1 | November 2, 2010 8:26 AM
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". . .the current irony of the Pope deciding what a "betrayal to democracy" is when he himself does not participate in one."
Bravo!
Posted by: gladerunner | November 1, 2010 3:59 PM
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Time for a history lesson. The abolitionist and civil rights movements began in the consciences of Christians, supported from the pulpit. Dr Alveda King, niece of Dr Martin Luther King calls abortion the civil rights issue of our times. Three times the number of African American babies die during abortion than white, while 80% of abortion mills are in their neighborhoods. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, had, as her objective to lower the population of undesirables, most of my immigrant grandparents would have qualified, but blacks were especially targeted.
We Catholics are speaking from our hearts when we say abortion is genocide, and NO ONE houses, educates, feeds, clothes, or cares for more poor than the Catholic Church.
Educate yourselves, the Catholic Church is God's home on earth, and contains the fullness of truth. She is praying for you.