Voting as a Catholic
I
started this blog back in October. My
goal was to touch on contemporary issues from a Catholic perspective. Of course I don’t claim any personal
authority, but the Faith is the lens through which I approach the topics on
this blog.
Starting
a Catholic blog one year before a Presidential election, as the primary season
was heating up, it was inevitable that often politics would be the topic of my
posts. Especially with the recent
struggles over religious liberty, as well as the raging culture war, Catholics,
by virtue of our baptism, are obligated to be involved.
This
understanding, and the effort many of us make to transform the culture through
our participation, faithful both to our country and God’s Church, it can be
frustrating to see fellow Catholics who seem to work hard to keep their Faith
out of their political lives. Part of
our duty to transform the culture is to address this problem.
Before
reading further, I invite you to click on the link and read, or listen to, Paul
Kengor’s commentary, “None So Blind as Catholics who Refuse to See.”
Dr.
Kengor’s commentary could apply to Republicans as well as Democrats, not to
mention Libertarians, Greens, or anyone else.
The crux of the problem is when any of us place our allegiance to a
political party above the allegiance to the values of our religion.
Perhaps
at one time we felt those two matched up, but maybe we have been blindly voting
for a certain political party for years without reevaluating why we are doing
it. We are being challenged to be better
Catholics, and better Americans, than that.
The
USCCB has put out a document meant to help, “Faithful Citizenship.” Some people have criticized the document for
being too vague, but a thoughtful approach to it reveals that it really is not. The Church will never endorse a political
party or candidate, even if one would seem obvious. However, if we put into practice the
principles of faithful participation in the voting process, we can be confident
that we have voted with a clear conscience.
Lighthouse
Catholic Media has put out a CD explaining the principles as put forth by the
bishops entitled, “Voting Guidelines by the USCCB.”
Again,
it does not endorse any candidate or party (it is actually a few years old
anyway), but it does help understand the principles we are to employ when we
vote.
First
we are reminded that blind allegiance to any political party is not prudent and
can be a cause of sin. There are many
issues on which people of Faith can have legitimate disagreements, for example,
how to best get the economy working again, how to get government spending under
control, what is the best way to achieve the goal of a successful health care
system for all people, etc.
However,
there are some issues that are not negotiable because they are intrinsically
evil, for example, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage,
euthanasia, etc. We can not support a
candidate who supports these things, even if we were to prefer his positions on
the other, more debatable issues. (The
CD does address how to prudentially approach a situation in which both
candidates are on the wrong side of at least one of these issues, as well.)
Many
people can’t understand this because they will argue that issues such as taxes
have moral implications, like abortion does.
However, at what rate to tax people with incomes over $250,000 is a
matter of prudence, and people can disagree on what would be best for the
economy, or most just. There is no
intrinsic evil involved. Abortion
involves the killing of an innocent person, always morally wrong by its very
nature. Taxes can not legitimately be
put on the same level as abortion.
Though we do not vote for a candidate based on one issue, we can and
should eliminate a candidate from consideration based on any one of these
non-negotiable issues.
In
our discussion with fellow Catholics we can sometimes be frustrated by their
unwillingness to see this. Let me share
an experience I had shortly after the 2008 election.
I
was having this very disagreement with a professor of moral theology at a
Catholic college. The college isn’t
known for its orthodoxy, but this is a good and learned man. After a few emails back and forth, he finally
conceded that his position was not defensible.
I did not get this concession by appealing to the bishops, but by this
argument:
I
knew the professor was pro-life, but also an Obama supporter. I posed this question to him: “Would you
consider voting for a candidate who supported the return of racial
segregation?” Of course he would not, regardless
of that person’s position on taxes, health care, welfare, or anything
else. Segregation is intrinsically evil
and denies people their basic human dignity.
And yet, as evil as segregation is, it is not as bad as actually taking
someone’s life. None of our Catholic
friends would vote for a candidate who supported segregation, based on that one
issue alone; therefore, they should also be unable to vote for a candidate who
is pro-abortion.
I
bring this story up for one reason. I am
nobody. I have studied philosophy and
theology, but I’m certainly not a doctor of either. This was an intelligent, learned man (and, as
it turned out, humble as well). We need
not be intimidated when talking with our Catholic friends about these
issues. We can speak the truth,
logically, and plant a seed. The Holy
Spirit can do the rest. The biggest
challenge is to do this with charity, and without getting angry.
Another
thing we can do is to give people a copy of the CD already mentioned. Perhaps the pastor at our parish will make
them available, or ministry heads will want them for their groups. This is an easy way to evangelize and affect
the culture. It is also non-threatening,
because we will not be telling people who to vote for, just giving them things
to think about before they vote, and respecting them to make a decision based
on a well-formed conscience.
