Denver Archbishop Decries Trend Of Discounting Religious Believers In Political Life

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The archbishop, who is well known for providing a strong Catholic voice on important moral issues such as abortion, homosexual marriage, immigration, and the death penalty, said that in recent years people in both major American political parties have wrongly tried to blame the conflicts in American public life on the active participation of religious believers.

The argument against the participation of religious believers, Chaput said, is that “religion is so powerful and so personal that whenever it enters public life in an organized way, it divides people. It repels. It polarizes. It oversimplifies complex issues. It creates bitterness. It invites extremism. And finally it violates the spirit of the Constitution by muddling up the separation of Church and state that keeps Americans from sliding into intolerance.”

“The same argument,” he said, “goes on to claim that, once they’re free from the burden of religious interference, mature citizens and leaders can engage in reasoned discourse, putting aside superstition and private obsessions to choose the best course for the widest public. Because the state is above moral and religious tribalism, it can best guarantee the rights of everyone. Therefore a fully secularized public square would be the adulthood of the American Experiment.”

All I can say is Amen. Now if the republicans and the democrats would stop betraying the babies.
ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=74116
 
It’s too bad Chaput wasn’t chosen to be Archbishop of Washington, D.C.
 
“Democracy,” Chaput said, “does not mean putting aside our religious and moral beliefs for the sake of public policy. In fact, it demands exactly the opposite. Democracy depends on people of character fighting for their beliefs in the public square – legally, ethically and non-violently, but forcefully and without apology.”
According to the archbishop, the confusion in language has lead to several harmful trends in the United States, including an unhealthy individualism, increased cynicism toward public life and service, and a decline in democratic involvement.
“Secularism isn’t really morally neutral. It’s actively destructive…It ignores the most basic questions of social purpose and personal meaning by writing them off as private idiosyncrasies,” the archbishop said.
I’d say the whole U.S. is blessed by Abp. Chaput, wherever he happens to be. He’s one of those persons, when they are in the news, to whom I pay special attention.
 
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