Catholics and their political views

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aship716

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We all know that Catholics must be pro-life

So…

What happens if a Catholic votes for a pro-choice candidate?
Are they in a state of mortal sin and if so, does the Catechism say this?

What if they say “I disagree that they are pro-choice, but I agree with their other view.” Can they till vote for that candidate?
 
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aship716 said:
What happens if a Catholic votes for a pro-choice candidate?
Are they in a state of mortal sin
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Depends on why they voted for the candidate.
If they voted for the candidate out of hatred for the Church or a desire to see more babies aborted, then they probably sinned. Whether it was “mortal” is up to their confessor, we can’t make such a judgment.

If they voted for the candidate because they felt the person would best carry out other Catholic values such as caring for immigrants and the poor and being honest and fair in their dealings, then they probably didn’t sin.

The Church does not tell people who they must vote for under pain of sin.
 
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It is up to God to judge a person’s intentions. Both Parties have their issues, but one is clearly leaning away from our Lord. Which party exalts and upholds the name of God, and which party votes to remove God from their platform? Which party promotes things such as homosexuality, allowing men in women’s bathrooms, legalizing drugs, and most disgustingly, the killing of innocent babies. If they had their way there would be a Planned Parenthood on every corner of every neighborhood. The choice should be very clear. The Democratic Party panders to the anti religious crowds.

If Hitler redistributed wealth and helped the poor, but still was responsible for the death of millions upon millions of innocent Jews, would he be worthy of a single Catholic vote? The abortion mills ARE the modern day gas chambers.

The question should be “Is it a mortal sin to kill a baby?” Yes it clearly is. Protecting our borders, lower welfare, and tax codes that help the already rich are not mortal sins.
 
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The right to life is the priority of all other issiues for a Catholic. You cant put it second to another issue.

Dont vote for Democrats, until they give up hatred for babies , and the famliy .
 
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It is true the Church does not tell people who to vote for under the pain of sin, but the Church does give guidance, because the Church IS the voice of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and has the God giving authority to do so.
 
Does God love you personally, or is God like a watchmaker that set the universe in motion and does not have personal love? The Christian god could not ignore the death of an unborn child. A god who loves the individual only after birth is not the Christian god.

IMO you can arrive at a more certain answer by focusing on the question of who God is, rather than focusing on the connection between the faith and politics. How people verbalize our answers to you is less important in terms of your question than some time contemplating God and God’s relationship to you.
 
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Mac said:
The right to life is the priority of all other issiues for a Catholic. You cant put it second to another issue. The conference of bishops made that clear.
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With all due respect, this is your opinion, if you are defining “right to life” as “anti-abortion”.
The right to life includes many other issues including the care of those already born and living.
The bishops do not require Catholics to be single-issue voters when voting for a candidate for office.

Here is the voting guidance from the US bishops, which people may find more useful than reading opinions.

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
DeSales111 said:
It is true the Church does not tell people who to vote for under the pain of sin, but the Church does give guidance, because the Church IS the voice of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and has the God giving authority to do so.
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You are correct, and I have linked the official US “Church Guidance” above.
 
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Abortion directly attacks life. You cant put that second to somthing that indirectly effects life , like economic issiues. The document you linked to , no where says that there’s a moral equivalent between the two. (If I missed that , please correct me)

Given that, I dont see how a Catholic in good faith can place abortion , second to another issiue like economics , imigration , or what ever else.

Do you have, an authoritative teaching you can show me that says something to the contrary?

Somthing that states , other political issiues that (non directly) attack inocent life are morally equivalent to issiues like abortion that ( directly ) kill inocent human life?

(Edited to more clearly state my point)
 
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I think another factor, and one that I find difficult to articulate, has to do with, I guess we can call it proximity. Sure, abortion is wrong and supporting it is wrong, but ones vote is not just about abortion, nor will it determine if it stays legal. It has been settled law through many administrations. The actually vote has less to do with abortion but more to do with somehing like ACA or immigration policy or foreign relation policies. They will be determined directly by the office holder unlike abortion. All of that must be taken into consideration.
 
I posted the guidance from the US Bishops, which you apparently don’t like or don’t think it “authoritative”, so I don’t think arguing with you further would be helpful or persuasive.
Have a blessed day!

I will also be muting this thread now, as we have had many threads on this topic already and will likely continue to have many more, and it is one of those topics where the discussion always goes the same way.
 
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One other thing and I am sorry to introduce it, maybe need another thread. Why are Trump supporters so over the top. As if he is the beat all end all who can do nothing wrong and whose word is Gospel.

I get it that we did not have good choices. Maybe he was the lesser of two evils on the political scene. Maybe even still is? But why can’t they acknowledge his shortcomings and do appropriate critique? It is his supporters who need to challenge him and hold him accountable. He will discount and insult everyone else.
 
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Shakuhachi said:
As if he is the beat all end all who can do nothing wrong and whose word is Gospel.
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I’ve noticed this as well. There seems to be a “protect Trump at all costs” mentality from some supporters. As if a billionaire leader of the free world needs to be defended.

That being said I think Trump supporters have been so vilified by their supposed intellectual superiors on the left that there is a weird personal tie-in that they have when the President is criticized. Couple that with the fact that almost everything the President does is criticized, whether criticism is warranted or not, and you have a constant stream of the back and forth that we see.
 
If I vote for someone and they get elected I feel more responsibility for them and will be critical as well as try to hold them accountable.

But for those who believe it is a sin to vote for a candidate who is pro- choice, what if I live in a red state and reagradless of my vote the " pro-choice" candidate get elected. Still a sin?
 
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Welshrabbit said:
That being said I think Trump supporters have been so vilified by their supposed intellectual superiors on the left that there is a weird personal tie-in that they have when the President is criticized. Couple that with the fact that almost everything the President does is criticized, whether criticism is warranted or not, and you have a constant stream of the back and forth that we see.
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This^^^

Most of us are not “over the top” at all. Many of us are more than willing to point out the things about President Trump we don’t like or criticize some of his actions.

Given there is very few news sources willing to report anything positive about the president sometimes we just want to balance the spin with facts.
Shakuhachi said:
Why are Trump supporters so over the top. As if he is the beat all end all who can do nothing wrong and whose word is Gospel.
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This is one of the biggest problems in politics right now. This is a perception pushed by left supporting media (which is most media). They show only what they want the public to see, only clips and pieces that make the president look bad. This has been going on since 2016. Since the majority of national media is left leaning, this is what the majority of America sees.

I am a Republican, not just a Trump supporter. I want a Republican president, a Republican House & Senate. I do not trust the Democrats with power in the this country, I do not believe they have the best interest of the US in mind. Given what is coming out now regarding Michael Flynn and how deep that persecution went, including Joe Biden.

As far as the issue of abortion, it is a critical issue for me. As a Catholic I could not vote for a party who advocates for abortion on demand. I fully understand that neither party is 100% pro-life in the area of abortion, but when one side is working to limit funding, working to put restrictions on abortions, and basically making it more difficult to get an abortion, I will go with that side.
 
Shakuhachi said:
If I vote for someone and they get elected I feel more responsibility for them and will be critical as well as try to hold them accountable.
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Which is what we should all strive to do.
Shakuhachi said:
But for those who believe itna sun to vote for a candidate who is pro- choice, what if I live in a red state and reagradless of my vote the " pro-choice" candidate get elected. Still a sin?
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I can’t really comment on this since I don’t believe it is a sin to vote for a pro-abortion candidate. I don’t really see how anyone who considers themselves a Catholic can in good conscience, but this forum is full of threads with Catholics twisting themselves into knots to do exactly that.

FWIW my state is going blue no matter what so I may vote for the American Solidarity Party candidate. We shall see…
 
No, acually I read it some of it, scanned it looking for abortion , I just didnt see were it said what you say it says. Not wanting to argue just trying to be clear on what exactly was said.
 
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Shakuhachi said:
I think another factor
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The biggest difficulty here is the attempt to shrink this decision to a single factor, allowing no other considerations. There are so many factors that go into our voting decisions, it almost painful to read some of these things.

Suppose it were a choice between Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren. Who would do more to discourage abortion? Trump might be more likely to outlaw abortion. But Elizabeth Warren worked with children with disabilities. She attended law school while raising her preschool daughter. How many pregnant women would be heartened by her commitment to family and children? How many pregnant women have been discouraged by Trump’s insensitivity? Who would you choose to help pregnant women? Someone like Trump? or someone like Warren?

There are many more factors to consider than just legality when looking at abortion. And many more issues than just abortion.
 
Voting for someone because they are pro-choice is a problem.

Voting for someone despite them being pro-choice…take it up with your Confessor.
 
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I’ve swallowed a bitter pill and voted for pro-choice candidates before, even if I find their views on abortion repulsive. I take a much more broad view about politics. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Now, having said that, I do think the democrats (And I’m a registered democrat who voted for Obama twice) have become a bit too extreme on gay marriage, transgender rights and abortion.
 
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