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Political popery a bad idea
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?
If I had absolute power and wanted to increase the number of abortions worldwide, here's the strategy I would employ: Forbid masturbation; forbid condoms; spread false claims about condoms being ineffective; forbid evidence-based sex education; allow advice on sexual matters only from appointed "experts" who, as a requirement for employment, took vows of celibacy. You may recognize this as Catholic Church dogma, while they still insist that their top moral priority is to prevent abortions.
Consistent with the "stopped-clock" theory, I do occasionally agree with the pope (though not as frequently as twice a day). We would both like to see fewer abortions, with every child a wanted child. I would follow the opposite strategy of that employed by the pope in the preceding paragraph, since there is overwhelming evidence that comprehensive sex education programs make abortions more rare.
I thought I was reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four when I saw leaders in the Catholic Church refer to the "democratic ideal," and call voting a "serious moral obligation." When do Catholic citizens get to exercise this "democratic ideal" and vote for pope, cardinals, priests, or any other church-related issue? The Vatican theocracy has the Chutzpah to call democracy an ideal for which all humans should strive. If so, Pope Benedict: Heal thyself.
Religious institutions can favor issues and still maintain their tax-exempt status, but they are not permitted to endorse or oppose specific political candidates. The Catholic Church may be crossing this line by telling their faithful to vote for the candidate who opposes abortion. To paraphrase from another Orwell book, Animal Farm: "All issues are equal, but one issue is more equal than others." Not only is the Catholic Church telling its flock to vote against a candidate who favors a woman's right to choose, the church is essentially saying that no other issues matter.
Let's take a hypothetical case (not so hypothetical, actually):
Candidate A supports the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and favors more government money for Defense, opposes government money to educate or offer services for the poor, opposes immigration and wants to build a fence around the country to keep immigrants out, wants to reduce taxes on the wealthy, favors capital punishment, and favors criminalizing abortion under all circumstances.
Candidate B takes the opposite side of Candidate A on all these issues, and favors the right of a woman to choose.
The Catholic Church agrees with all the positions of Candidate B but the last, yet would urge its faithful to vote for Candidate A. That's what happens when a church engages in politics. I wish Catholics would ignore the pontiff when he pontificates theologically, but even more so when he pontificates politically. At least the pope and I agree that voting is a good thing, though I'll never have the pleasure to vote against a candidate for pope.
By
Herb Silverman
|
November 1, 2010; 5:16 PM ET
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Posted by: woodstock-41 | November 6, 2010 6:16 PM
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Actually, let's put it another way: When the Church *did* get political power, it never seemed to occur to them to found a 'Holy Roman *Republic,*' did they?
Posted by: APaganplace | November 4, 2010 4:18 PM
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(As an aside:)
For a Church so down on 'Pagan Rome' they sure do seem to take the concept of a 'Pontifex' to previously-unprecedented levels. :)
Posted by: APaganplace | November 4, 2010 4:14 PM
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The self-proclaimed “pro-life” crowd is entirely too obsessive about the imaginary people they claim to be concerned about. They need to calm down, switch off their circuit diagrams, get out of their blueprints, sit in the shade of their acorns, listen to the pleasant songs of the eggs, and stop to smell the pollen.
Posted by: RichardSRussell | November 3, 2010 10:46 AM
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Well said Herb. Tame even. I wonder how much deleting you had to do before you finished writing? I appreciate your clarity and level-headedness.
Posted by: greeenmtns | November 2, 2010 5:08 PM
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Mr. Silverman;
Exceptional!
Posted by: gladerunner | November 2, 2010 4:18 PM
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There is at least one thing that I'm happy about and that is the most catholics ignore the Pope's advice.
Posted by: jonesm2 | November 2, 2010 11:23 AM
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I will take the Catholic Church seriously on moral issues when the Catholic Church takes seriously its decades-long continuing criminal enterprise of molesting children, aiding and abetting that molestation, and conspiring both to allow that molestation to continue and to obstruct justice by failing to cooperate fully and completely with civil authorities in their investigations.
If the Pope truly understood the faith he professes, he would turn over to police the felons he continues to shelter ... and then he would abdicate. I won't hold my breath.
Posted by: lexalexander1 | November 2, 2010 11:07 AM
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Well said, Herb!
Posted by: fhay26 | November 2, 2010 10:36 AM
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SHAME ON OLD-RELIGION!
PRAISE the NEW-RELIGION (PHOTON-Awareness Cosmic-Faith)..
of Which the Jealous "POLITICAL POPERiiSts" would love to STOP, let alone already HATE!
When "IT" comes before the Holyi "U.S. FEDERAL-COURT" System, Zero Religion System: Things are gonna Get Prophetic; HEAR!
Not only HERE!