Can a Catholic be Democrat?

[TMC]

The simple answer to this question is “yes”.

Every election season we see Catholics (not the Church, but many individuals) try to convince each other that a Catholic MUST vote for one candidate or against another. The Church puts out pretty good voting guidance, which makes clear that is not the case. No candidate or party conforms to Catholic moral teachings, and each person must vote in accordance with their own conscience.

 

[Elizabeth3]

I understand you are upset. I would be scared to death as well if I had a son in the military. However, I would respect his bravery and decision to join. I wouldn’t downgrade that decision by calling him a “pawn” of the President. It is an honorable service. You are making assumptions about Trump’s decision being impulsive. We are not privy to all the information that he has that lead up to this decision and I’m sure he doesn’t take lightly the danger the troops are in nor would he put them carelessly in harms way. I thank your son for his service and I will pray for him.

 

[Matthew25]

The answer to your question is yes, you can vote for a Democratic candidate. The Catholic Church is not a wing of the Republican party.

 

[TMC]

I am the biggest bleeding heart liberal around, however, we cannot blame Mr Trump because our servicemen/servicewomen were sent, those folks volunteered for duty.

I agree wholeheartedly. I served myself, and probably would not have picked the conflicts I served through.

Nonetheless, as citizens we must hold our leaders to account for the decisions they make. The leaders of both parties have made some pretty bad choices in this realm in the last sixty or seventy years. The news breaking right now about the lies we have been told about the Afghan conflict (by Presidents of both parties) demonstrate that we citizens must do a better job of holding the politicians accountable.

 

[Christianbook]

You know what? I do agree with this. And I pray to set aside my feelings of pain for what my son has chosen. Tho it is not easy. But I cannot stand people being all for one side. They’re are multiple things bothe patries do what is right and what is wrong according to the church. And one thing is for certain, that I am ignorant to political views. It is so complicated to me. But I am willing to learn or set aside opinions. But my pain comes from those that attack and do not teach. And although this is seen mostly with Republicans. Liberals and Democrats can be just the same. Agressive. They close their ears. Agression comes with agression. And I do not think that religion should 100% mix with politics. And that is my opinion. All I can do is pray to God to shape this country how ever he pleases. If God wants this country to take a bad turn, it will. And we cannot change that.

 

[CollegeCatholic24]

True, which in my opinion, defeats the reason of ending abortion. Like the pro-choice stance, there argument is inconsistent. The Catholic view is the one that needs to be in law, based on modern science.

 

[Christianbook]

Thank you. For your comment in a non aggressive way. And yes I agree, I let my feelings get the best of me. Because it is hurtful, and I did not agree with him joining in the first place. And no it was not Trumps fault. If God wants war he will let it happen. It is up to him. But I will say that the things Trump says are very hurtful to me. And although politics has nothing to do with it, it shapes my view because my feelings take over. I appreciate your comment and thank you for your prayers

 

[TheLittleLady]

And I do not think that religion should 100% mix with politics

I think our faith ought to far outweigh our politics. Thank your son for his service.

If God wants this country to take a bad turn, it will. And we cannot change that.

God gives all of us, even Presidents, captains of industry, and legislators, free will. If the country takes a bad turn, it is because of the decisions made by many people. God permits us to make huge mistakes if we wish to.

 

[Christianbook]

And you know what, that is ok if you believee that way. But do not push your views onto others. And although I agree with free will, but you have to consider also that not everyone is Catholic. And we dont know what the lord wants us to think. Honestly, forcing others or pushing the Bible onto people will NOT change their minds. Being a Republican because the church says so is it ok? No. Choose with your heart. Pray to the lord to give you the mind to open it and take in what you think he will want you to think. And pray for others to make the decisions that God wants to make. With their heart. Choosing a side cus the church says so, is that right? Thats blindly making the Church a God in itself.Read the bible, compare it to the political parties and then decide. And pray for others to find their way. Cus although we do have free will, if you pray, God can listen and help those who are morally lost to find themselves closer to him even politically.
think in my opinion, that that is how it should be done. Ps: I dont mean to say “you” specifically, I am speaking in general

 

[semblables1]

The ACA in part has helped lower abortion rates to their all time lows and under Clinton and Obama the rates fell while under Busch they were stagnant

I feel like your conscience is leading you in the right direction here. Many Catholics feel very strongly that the state should criminally prosecute doctors who provide abortions or women who have abortions. Many Catholics want to see any policy quickly enacted to prevent as many abortions as possible (policy often in the domain of helthcare, as you mention). Some of these feel that prosecuting doctors or women won’t actually help lower the number of abortions, which is why they may feel that focusing on policy first is much more important than prosecuting doctors or women.

Even beyond that question, these Catholics could feel justified in feeling that policy positions more often supported by the Democratic Party represent a more de facto pro-life stance (even pro-life limited down to just the abortion question) than platforms that don’t seek to lower the abortion rate in the same way.

 

[Nepperhan]

Im gonna straight out say that it doesn’t matter who this man was, the carless act caused this mad to send innocent people to fight. Instead of a thank you, we got a “we are ok” not thinking about how many families are loosing their child for this act. Its easy in your side to see this and say “they are serving our country. Yes lets fight” But when your child is being sent, is it that easy? All of my sons friends and my son are upset with this decision he took upon himself. Yes. Abortion is bad. But isnt it worst making carless decisions that make my son have to fight for a mistake made? Whether or not you think it was a mistake that is up to you. But, the way it was done, we can all agree that it was impulsive. Soldiers are not pawns. They are fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers and children. I have a chance of loosing my son. Is that less of importance then abortion? Is my living son less of importance then an unborn child? That is up to you to decide.

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[TheLittleLady]

And you know what, that is ok if you believee that way. But do not push your views onto others.

The statement that God gives us free will is “pushing my views unto others”? Your info says you are Catholic. Free will is a very core, basic Christian belief.

 

[rosejmj]

Honestly, thinking you have to vote for the Republican candidate just because they are more against abortion seems stupid. There are so many other important issues encompassed in politics that should also influence your decision. The likelihood of the Republican candidate doing much to stop abortion isn’t much anyway. They can say they don’t like it but how much can they really do to stop it?

 

[Elizabeth3]

The likelihood of the Republican candidate doing much to stop abortion isn’t much anyway. They can say they don’t like it but how much can they really do to stop it?

A good bit if they pick pro-life Supreme Court justices and change the balance of power on the court. Other lower-level judges will help as well. You might not see much movement in the short term but it will be better long term.

 

[EvangelistVictor]

The answer to your question is yes, you can vote for a Democratic candidate. The Catholic Church is not a wing of the Republican party

Best answer yet! Funny how Evangelicals think the same thing.

I voted Republican twice for Bush Jr. because as a former Evangelical I was told I’d go to hell for voting for a democrat. Back around 1999-2000 at Calvary Chapel Downey, in Downey, CA they use to hand out a Christian voters guide to tell you who you hate to vote for. Never again will I let any church brainwash me.

 

[Dolphin]

The fact that I work in politics while having a political science degree makes me “ignorant” because my conclusions about Trump are not the same as yours. You don’t see me going around calling you ignorant or attacking conservatives. I simply stated my opinion on Trump. You are the one calling myself and all other Democrats as “ignorant”.

 

[saintlouisblues19]

Don’t criticize me, but I have been mislead like many others, I was never made aware of this by Trump haters or supporters alike because they are too busy arguing to one another. Thank you for providing this, I don’t think it will change my political views dramatically, but it definitely puts a new perspective on Trump that I hadn’t seen

 

[JSRG]

Weeeeeeeeell… your country is a melting pot of political parties with a first past the post system that can be overrided by the electoral college. As much as these alt parties are interesting the maths says they can never get anywhere.

I disagree. While first past the post heavily favors a two party system, it doesn’t inherently result in it. I think a major problem with a lot of third parties is that they don’t offer much you wouldn’t get from the major two parties, they mostly are just more extreme versions of them. That is not the case with the ASP.

Obviously, it’s a lot harder under first past the post; if we had something like Ranked Choice Voting it’d be easier. But I don’t think it’s impossible.

Honestly, though, I think it would be smart of the Democrats to get behind something like Ranked Choice Voting (this gives a good explanation of it). First, once explained to the populace I think it would be a popular idea, which would be to their benefit. But more practically, a good number of single-issue pro-life voters actually are in agreement with the Democrats on a lot of other issues (e.g. economy, environment), but the two-party system makes them vote Republican and the Democrats thus are unable to make much progress in those areas. But under RCV that wouldn’t be the case anymore, and thus we’d see a lot more pro-life politicians who would be in agreement with the Democrats on those other issues, thereby allowing the Democrats to make progress on those issues. It wouldn’t help Democrats on the abortion issue but they weren’t ever going to win over the single-issue pro-life voters on that anyway, so Democrats might as well try to make progress on other issues using those voters, which would be a whole lot easier under Ranked Choice Voting.

 

[JSRG]

Oddly enough, I don’t actually have an issue with the Electoral College. In fact, I would like to go back to the original system: most votes = President; second most = Vice President. I think it would encourage more candidates and therefore more choices.

I don’t think it would do that. I do think, however, it would increase assassination attempts.

 

[Gingersnaps4]

. I simply stated my opinion on Trump. You are the one calling myself and all other Democrats as “ignorant”.

I mean ignorant as in unaware of, not as in stupid. With regard to LGBT especially, his long, positive record is objective, not a matter of opinion. So no matter what your degree you are mistaken there.