Do you have to be a Republican to be Catholic?

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Ah, but you use the analogy of a stance which is not only illegal, but morally reprehensible to most in society. Abortion is neither. Using a candidate’s stated stance on abortion as the single issue on which to decide voting choices is neither advised by the Church, nor reflective of today’s realities: we are going to be confronted with a significant number of politicians who are pro-choice because 1. candidates reflect the society from which they hail, and more importantly, 2. politicians will tend to publicly support whatever seems expedient to getting themselves elected. Personally, I believe there is more to being pro-life than one’s public stance or one’s voting record on token abortion legislation. Politicians must walk their talk.
Abortion is no less morally reprehensible lol. Morality is not a democracy 😉 When the pro-life vote is split it should no be no surprise that we don’t get anywhere. Its actually somewhat superfluous for you guys to argue that we don’t get anywhere on the issue after you continually work to divide the vote. As I pointed out earlier, Roe V. Wade would have had a very good chance of being overturned if we had got a pro-life president in office who was able to appoint a couple pro-life judges to the Supreme Court. We don’t have to solve the issue overnight, but if we can get Roe V. Wade overturned the issue goes back to the States and we can fight the battle there.

The main duty of the Federal government is national defense. I would be great if we could make that the main issue of a presidential election, but the problem is the federal government has its hands in all sorts of places it shouldn’t.
 
Can you please cite the Bible or Catechism sections that specifically mention gay marriage, legalizing drugs or animal rights? I understand what the CCC says about gay marriage, but only why we as Catholics cannot have a gay marriage, not why we have to impose it on non-Catholics as well.
homosexual marriages being legalized:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html

I don’t see any encyclicals on legalizing drugs from my quick look. I believe animal rights was mentioned in reference to those people who wish to bring animals up to the level of humans. I wouldn’t characterize this stance as a position of the Democratic party, but I would say the Democratic Party by their actions seems to care more about the rights of animals than they do the rights of children in the womb which is really unconscionable.
 
What bothers me the most is that at least in California, part of their mission statement is that they want to protect a “woman’s right to choose”… so the California Democratic Party is pro-abortion, and for that reason Catholics here in California should not join the Democratic party. Maybe there is a pro-life Democrat or a Democrat is a better candidate, but you do not have to be a Democrat to vote for one. Unfortunately, what used to be a great party has sold-out to the special interest groups.
It’s not just California. The national party platform is pro-abortion.
 
Abortion is no less morally reprehensible lol. Morality is not a democracy 😉 When the pro-life vote is split it should no be no surprise that we don’t get anywhere. Its actually somewhat superfluous for you guys to argue that we don’t get anywhere on the issue after you continually work to divide the vote. As I pointed out earlier, Roe V. Wade would have had a very good chance of being overturned if we had got a pro-life president in office who was able to appoint a couple pro-life judges to the Supreme Court. We don’t have to solve the issue overnight, but if we can get Roe V. Wade overturned the issue goes back to the States and we can fight the battle there.

The main duty of the Federal government is national defense. I would be great if we could make that the main issue of a presidential election, but the problem is the federal government has its hands in all sorts of places it shouldn’t.
I’m not saying that abortion is less morally reprehensible than pedophilia - what I am saying is that abortion is legal and less morally reprehensible to society. Does that mean that majority counts with regard to what is moral and what is not? In the Church, no. In secular life, unfortunately, yes. And it is in the secular realm that politics and elections unfold. Stating the realities does not imply agreeing that things should be so.
 
I’m not saying that abortion is less morally reprehensible than pedophilia - what I am saying is that abortion is legal and less morally reprehensible to society. Does that mean that majority counts with regard to what is moral and what is not? In the Church, no. In secular life, unfortunately, yes. And it is in the secular realm that politics and elections unfold. Stating the realities does not imply agreeing that things should be so.
It does when its used as justification for supporting candidates that are pro-choice and then those that do so then claim that the pro-life movement is not making progress which is why they don’t support it… Its a circular argument. I don’t vote pro-life above everything else because its not successful, and its not successful because I don’t vote…
 
homosexual marriages being legalized:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html

I don’t see any encyclicals on legalizing drugs from my quick look. I believe animal rights was mentioned in reference to those people who wish to bring animals up to the level of humans. I wouldn’t characterize this stance as a position of the Democratic party, but I would say the Democratic Party by their actions seems to care more about the rights of animals than they do the rights of children in the womb which is really unconscionable.
The point is that out of our two party system, the Democrats (Maybe more accurately liberals) are fighting against God in society . Look at cases of the ACLU, and groups like freedomfromreligion. It’s an all out war on Catholics. Even if this abomination of abortion were thrown out of the Democrat party ideals, you would still have so many other societal changes which are contrary to God’s fundamental institution of marriage, the family, and worship. The radical liberal groups are overwhelmingly Democrat.

I need to preface this again by saying I never said that the Republicans are the group to turn to. I think that some of their platforms are contrary to God’s will as well. The Catholic Church is an institution far above both party lines.

Let’s stop the killing of 53 million babies and counting and the all out war on all religion first, then we can talk about some of the other platforms held by Democrats. You don’t have to be a Republican, but you sure can’t be a liberal and a true Catholic.

MARY PRAY FOR US…
 
The point is that out of our two party system, the Democrats (Maybe more accurately liberals) are fighting against God in society . Look at cases of the ACLU, and groups like freedomfromreligion. It’s an all out war on Catholics. Even if this abomination of abortion were thrown out of the Democrat party ideals, you would still have so many other societal changes which are fundamental in God’s institution of marriage and love in our society. The radical liberal groups are overwhelmingly Democrat.

We’d rather save all the whales from the “evil oil corporations” then stop the increase of killing 53 million babies a year.

MARY PRAY FOR US…
Yeah but a lot of things come down to “what is the role of government in our lives”. I don’t think either side can claim full Vatican support on that issue lol.
 
I never ever claimed that either one does hold support from the Vatican.

I didn’t say you had to vote Republican.
I simply said you cannot vote Democrat.

You can cast your vote for Barney the Purple Dinosaur or Captain America for all I care.
At least they can’t put Justices in that support the holocaust we are living through.
 
It does when its used as justification for supporting candidates that are pro-choice and then those that do so then claim that the pro-life movement is not making progress which is why they don’t support it… Its a circular argument. I don’t vote pro-life above everything else because its not successful, and its not successful because I don’t vote…
“It’s not successful because I didn’t vote pro-life”? Where have you been since Roe v Wade?
 
Although gay marriage will never be valid within our Church, I don’t understand why we have the right to tell non-Catholic same-sex couples that they have to be play by our rules. What the state allows in terms of “marriage” (or civil union) doesn’t require US to recognize those same marriages, any more than we allow divorced couples to remarry without annulment. The state’s rules regarding marriage already are different from our rules about it. We didn’t change our religious views on divorce just because society loosened theirs; why is the gay marriage issue any more threatening?

First of all, there’s a lot of non-clear thinking being expressed here.
Marriage was ordained by God for ALL humans, for males and females. By GOD,
NOT by the Catholic Church!!! ALL human beings are required to play by God’s rules.
These are called the Natural Law. Jews refer to it as the “Noahide” laws, those Jews that don’t condone these modern evil behaviors, that is, which is most of the Orthodox Jews and many, still, of the conservative Jews.

Gay sex and “gay marriage” are wrong for the same reason that STEALING is wrong,
because they are SINFUL acts, whether one is “catholic” or “christian” or NOT.

If we Catholics sit back idly and LET society legislate these satanically-inspired Sins into LAW, we are, definitely, going to be attacked by those who are FOR these things, and they ARE, mark my word, they ARE, going to try to FORCE the Church to perform same-sex marriages. The HHS mandate PROVES that the government, when run by Liberals, apostates and infidels, WILL try to FORCE the church to violate it’s own teachings (which amounts to the government Blaspheming/Sinning Against the Spirit of the Lord (Who is the Author of our Church’s moral teachings) , by the way, and the fall of unimaginably-ferocious Divine Supernatural Wrath upon this nation will probably not be far behind for such daring arrogance. God will NOT be treated “in your face” by ungodly human beings like that and let them get away with it indefinitely).

You’re right that lax divorce laws did not change Catholic teaching against Divorce.
True. But these new, lax divorce laws DID EMBOLDEN many Catholics to mortally sin by divorcing and then REMARRYING after that divorce. So these lax laws DO affect the church and DO affect the salvation of Catholics. IF WE KNOWINGLY VOTE FOR those who are going to pass wicked laws, then we ARE participating in the SPIRITUAL DEATHS of many people, who would otherwise feel somewhat restrained by those now-abolished laws against their immoral tendencies, and emboldened to sin those sins,
INCLUDING many Catholics. The penalty for us, from God, for such behavior, will be extremely severe, and that’s something we fail to reflect upon or realize.
CONTINUED IMMEDIATELY BELOW. Thanks.
 
This is an excellent post, I would like to add a few things though. Let’s leave out animal rights for now and talk about this logically before giving any sort of citations, first of all 3xblessed, along with many people who have responded to this post (with all due respect) you have a major lack of discernment in God’s will for all people. This idea of the separation of Church and State is a secularist point of view. As Catholics our job is to keep the moral foundation of CHURCH and STATE Together.

Therefore, because we are in full union with the Pope and the Holy Church our goal as Catholics— Not as Americans – Is to Evangelize the Gospels, Live the Gospels, and bring more people closer to God. Voting for someone or an Amendment that is against ANY OF THESE PRINCIPLES of Christianity is voting against you’re own belief system and the Church itself.

I didn’t say you had to vote Republican, you are welcome to vote for Barney Rubble. But you CANNOT vote for anyone who is Pro-Abortion, Pro Gay Marriage, and Pro Decriminalizing Drugs or other abominations in God’ Eyes. Our Duty is to
  1. God
  2. Family
  3. Country ----> IN THAT ORDER
    Code:
       We have an **OBLIGATION** to Spread the Gospels and to keep our fellow members of the human race from sinning.
All I’ve heard here are a bunch of excuses to vote against God, and I’m sorry but this makes me so incredible agitated at Catholics. I cannot believe you all would justify voting for a living holocaust (abortion) in our country by discerning that there is another more grave matter.

The Gravest Matter of all is Offending our Creator, God Almighty.
This is exactly the response I’m getting at my church as well, and frankly it leaves me wondering if I converted to the wrong religion. I’m really unhappy about that.

The Bible says nothing about decriminalizing drugs, for example. Drugs are surely evil but I don’t understand why legalizing them would “offend God.” How do you know the mind of God, if he never made any pronouncements about that?

Am I misunderstanding, or are you really saying that we should NOT separate church and state? And if so, do you mean on a personal level we cannot separate our beliefs about govt from religion, or that we should apply our beliefs about religion to everyone through the state? I am strongly opposed to trying to make the whole country live by Catholic “rules” because we’re supposedly founded on religious freedom. Have you forgotten about the time not so long ago when Catholics were actively discriminated against? I want to protect religious freedom for everyone so they don’t come after mine and tell me I have to practice as a Baptist, for example.

Although there were a few exceptions in this thread, it feels very much like the answer to my question was “yes, you have to be a Republican.” You may be saying “you can vote for whomever you want” as long as they (claim to be) pro-life, anti-gay marriage, tough on drugs, etc., which is essentially saying you can vote for Barney Rubble as long as he is conservative.

I know why the church is against abortion, but I don’t understand at all why being Catholic has to mean that I take a conservative stance on all the other issues. It feels like there is no room for individual thought at all.
 
CONTINUED FROM MY POST ABOVE. God bless you all.
Again, a same-gender sexual act is a sinful act whether it has been legalized or not. And it has now been legalized, with the Supreme Court striking down the sodomy laws. To say that this is merely and issue of another person’s religious freedom is not correct. We are ALL obligated to obey the Natural Laws, or to REPENT when we have broken them, Catholic or not. But to take it farther, and enshrine the breaking of those laws INTO LAW as a “right” is a particularly heinous and wicked, diabolical thing to do. We cannot vote for such people as support these things without incurring, ourselves, great guilt before God.
The ONLY time we could do that, would be to prevent a greater evil. Let’s say that the proAbortion candidate was not for the Mass-Murder of blacks and Latinos, but the
ANTI-abortion candidate was a monster like Hitler who openly advocated exterminating all the racial minorities in America. In THAT case, we would not dare vote for the “antiAbortion” candidate, even though his “antiAbortion” stance is the right stance, because his OTHER stance, the advocacy of mass-genocide, would be even worse.
In this kind of case, we would not be voting “FOR” the proAbort, but voting AGAINST the
racist genocidal maniac, a regrettable lesser-of-two-evils dilemma that we dare not shirk from.
The Republicans, as draconian as their fiscal policies are, are NOT OUT to massacre any minorities or any such nonsense. And it CAN be argued, re the health care and other otherwise good issues supported by the dems, that people who KNOWINGLY ENDORSE legal abortion, legal sodomy, paying for abortion with YOUR AND MY tax dollars, are supporting the mass-killings of babies and therefore DO NOT DESERVE
to have quality health care, quality free education, good unemployment benefits, or any of those other good things, because when people openly advocate wickedness, we are brininging upon ourselves punishments, not earning blessings such as good social programs. And our horrendous tolerance of the mass child killing that has been going on since 1973, may be one reason that God has allowed America to become 15 TRILLION dollars in Debt, and ALLOWED 70% of Catholics to decide for themselves that mortal sins are, in fact, not mortal sins, and that they have the right to dissent from the church, disobey her infallible moral teachings without repentance, revolt against her ordination of only men to the priesthood (even AFTER the pope spoke with finality and full apostolic authority on this very issue). These Catholics, since no punishments have yet fallen upon them for such open dissent, actually feel (and have expressed such feelings in writing, such as in letters to the editor of dissident magazines like US CATHOLIC) that the HOLY SPIRIT is behind their dissent and that the HOLY SPIRIT is the force behind the pro-gay-marriage movement, and behind Dignity and New Ways and other sin-endorsing ministries that the church has condemned. They do not realize what a horrifying state they are in, when they can actually make such statements about the Holy Spirit and actually BELIEVE what they are saying. God CHASTENS those he loves and is saving, when they sin or head into apostasy, to turn them around so they won’t be lost.
When we see people apostasizing, and prospering, and becoming even more and more bold in their disobedient dissent (which they euphemistically refer to as “liberalism” instead of “infidelity,” which it actually is), we should be very, very frightened for their souls, because prosperity when practicing great sinfulness and defiance, is NOT a sign of Divine Blessing, but of Reprobation: i.e., God is letting them, LETTING THEM without interfering or disciplining them to get them to repent, Harden Their Hearts like Pharoah did when Moses kept warning him to LET GOD’S PEOPLE (Israel) GO. He wouldn’t listen, warning after warning, sign after sign, and remained the proseprous, arrogant king, until God, suddenly and unexpectedly, drowned HIM and HIS WHOLE MILITARY FORCE, in the closing-waters of the Sea. God could have done more than send frogs and other signs to scare him. He could have made it more personal: he could have, right from the start, had an Angel appear to Pharoah, in His name, and literally beat some sense into him, which might have caused Pharoah to repent, but God did not do that. He let Pharoah harden his heart beyond all possibility of repentance, while prosperous.
He will, and apparently is doing, the same thing to disobedient Catholics and other Christians, today. Reprobating them and letting them prosper in their deliberate defiance.
And don’t make the mistake of pointing to the soup kitchens, clothing drives, orphanages and other (Genuinely) good deeds of the dissidents as proof that they remain in Jesus’s favor. That’s not proof and good deeds like that, though GOOD, are not enough.
There are many, Christ PROMISED, who will say to him on the Last Day, BUT LORD, LORD, did we NOT do this, that, and the other, and many OTHER powerful works in your name??? And he says he will say to them: I never knew you: GET AWAY FROM ME, you workers of Lawlessness.
What is lawlessness? SIN is lawlessness, and lawlessness is SIN.
The proAborts and other DISSENTES and advocates of Sin are advocating Lawlessness.
It’s wonderful to operate ministries to the poor and elderly and homeless. If done in a spirit of obedience and penance, they are “mitzvahs”, good deeds that having saving grace attached to them. But when done to salve one’s conscience or to cover for UNrepentantly advocating Sin, then they have no value before the Lord.
 
I never ever claimed that either one does hold support from the Vatican.

I didn’t say you had to vote Republican.
I simply said you cannot vote Democrat.

You can cast your vote for Barney the Purple Dinosaur or Captain America for all I care.
At least they can’t put Justices in that support the holocaust we are living through.
I do not get this at all. By saying that you cannot vote Democrat you are essentially saying that yes, you have to be conservative.

All the people who have voted Republican strictly on the basis of the abortion issue for the past 35 years have not made abortion illegal. However in my opinion those who did so created the stage for a long list of horrible, immoral things to be done instead (war, torture, anti-immigration, death penalty, making it harder for the poor to survive…)

If I believed that voting Republican would result in abortion becoming illegal I might do it, but I honestly don’t believe at all that they will ever overturn it. Being able to get votes simply on the basis of that one issue is too valuable of a tool for the Republicans and they don’t want to give that up. I feel like the Republican party is essentially using all of us who are anti-abortion as pawns while ushering in many other things we shouldn’t accept.
 
I do not get this at all. By saying that you cannot vote Democrat you are essentially saying that yes, you have to be conservative.

All the people who have voted Republican strictly on the basis of the abortion issue for the past 35 years have not made abortion illegal. However in my opinion those who did so created the stage for a long list of horrible, immoral things to be done instead (war, torture, anti-immigration, death penalty, making it harder for the poor to survive…)

If I believed that voting Republican would result in abortion becoming illegal I might do it, but I honestly don’t believe at all that they will ever overturn it. Being able to get votes simply on the basis of that one issue is too valuable of a tool for the Republicans and they don’t want to give that up. I feel like the Republican party is essentially using all of us who are anti-abortion as pawns while ushering in many other things we shouldn’t accept.
I don’t completely agree with you, but on the ‘valuable tool’ that abortion is to Republicans, I concur 100%. All this is besides the fact that I am yet to see conclusive evidence that abortion rates are lower where abortion is illegal. I’m all for the moral statement such a law would make, but not enough that I’d hang my hopes on it as a solution.
 
This is exactly the response I’m getting at my church as well, and frankly it leaves me wondering if I converted to the wrong religion. I’m really unhappy about that.

The Bible says nothing about decriminalizing drugs, for example. Drugs are surely evil but I don’t understand why legalizing them would “offend God.” How do you know the mind of God, if he never made any pronouncements about that?

Am I misunderstanding, or are you really saying that we should NOT separate church and state? And if so, do you mean on a personal level we cannot separate our beliefs about govt from religion, or that we should apply our beliefs about religion to everyone through the state? I am strongly opposed to trying to make the whole country live by Catholic “rules” because we’re supposedly founded on religious freedom. Have you forgotten about the time not so long ago when Catholics were actively discriminated against? I want to protect religious freedom for everyone so they don’t come after mine and tell me I have to practice as a Baptist, for example.

Although there were a few exceptions in this thread, it feels very much like the answer to my question was “yes, you have to be a Republican.” You may be saying “you can vote for whomever you want” as long as they (claim to be) pro-life, anti-gay marriage, tough on drugs, etc., which is essentially saying you can vote for Barney Rubble as long as he is conservative.

I know why the church is against abortion, but I don’t understand at all why being Catholic has to mean that I take a conservative stance on all the other issues. It feels like there is no room for individual thought at all.
You need to go back and reread the posts that I made. Let me clarify, I do not believe there should be Church and State separation because that is separation from God. These are not Church laws as Japeeto (I believe) just said that these laws are from God. THESE ARE NOT JUST CATHOLIC RULES These are the infinite laws of the living God! When you profess your faith in the Nicene Creed you believe in the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Jesus Christ left the Holy Spirit through the Apostles to help us discern morality on these issues (Hence The Bible + Tradition). Simply not wanting to “offend” others by imposing God’s law on others is NOT an excuse.

Now on to your question about Drugs. How do I know the mind of God? I don’t! That’s why I rely fully on the Holy Spirit through the Catholic Church to discern for me what is right and wrong (What I just briefly and (name removed by moderator)recisely explained). It is a mortal sin to indulge willingly in Drugs (Yes I mean in an abusive context not in prescription or health). I do not want the general population to continue committing mortal sins… Do you? I’m curious, because to me it sounds like you don’t care about the salvation or general well being of others who do not believe the way you do. It’s like taking the stance of well I don’t like abortion but I can’t tell others not to do it---- NO!!! You must take a stand for what is right and this is plainly wrong. Well I don’t like it when Hitler killed millions of Jews, but its not my right to tell him to stop because I might offend him…

There’s a certain magnitude that people are not grasping. I never said vote for Barney Rubble because he’s a conservative, I said vote for Barney Rubble and Captain America because they aren’t adding to the slaughtering of the innocent.
 
How do you know the mind of God, if he never made any pronouncements about that?

So let’s see here, you can’t know that something is offensive to God unless he SPECIFICALLY names it as SPECIFICALLY offensive??

How about making $50,000 a year, as a single person, and applying for Food Stamps?
Sure, it’s lying and claiming to be poor, but lying in general is condemned, not specifically food stamp fraud. So why not legalize all forms of food stamp fraud???
Sodomy and same-sex marriage are both against the NATURAL law, not merely the “religious tradition” of the Roman Catholic Church.

Also, you are invoking SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE as if this idea is something that is holy and came from God. It did NOT.
It came from the sin-bedarkened minds of ungodly people, usually freemasons and others like Voltaire (an open apostate from the Faith and from Christ himself).
It is not from the scriptures nor the Church nor from God, but from the minds of men who were in rebellion against the Sovereignty of God.
In America, it WORKS because of all the different religions, but it was never intended, even by the founding fathers, to be an ABSOLUTE separation. The amendment was, specifically, CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RELIGION NOR INTERFERE WITH THE FREE-EXCERCISE THEREOF. These founders and authors had been living under English Imperial rule and England had an ESTABLISHED, official STATE Church, to which you had to belong or at least support financially. An official STATE religion/church. THAT, and ONLY THAT, (and their writings make clear that my interpretation of their intent is correct) was their intent by this amendment. They NEVER intended that widely accepted Christian doctrine/morals would have no influence in the passing of laws governing morality. Morality, by the way, is the ONLY THING that you CAN legislate. And it will either be based on God’s Law to Moses, to the Church, the Natural Law or else, as it is increasingly in America, by the WHIMS of liberals – whatever they condone at the moment becomes Law. Whatever Liberals CONDEMN at any given moment, becomes UNlawful. Or even a “hate crime” or “hate speech” (like calling sexual immorality “sinful” or abortion “murder.” The advocates of abortion are trying to get THAT silenced, too, as hate speech).

The liberals are NOT going to try to force you to live as a Baptist!!! Never gonna happen.
They ARE going to try to FORCE YOU to pay for abortions, to FORCE the Church to pay for them (right now it’s just abortifacient contraceptives, but I guarantee you, you give them an inch, they WILL take a mile. Mandatory surgical abortion coversage IS coming, and it’s coming FROM THE LIBERALS that many of you Catholics KEEP VOTING INTO OFFICE. And when my priest is in jail for not complying, many of us are going to remember WHO helped put him there, by their votes. Once things have gotten that bad, thanks to the deliberate votes for the Liberals by Catholics, I and others will not be able to bring myself to pray for God’s mercy on those who helped get our good Priests arrested and our Church fined hundreds of millions of dollars. And the LORD is going to remember most of all. Count on him remembering.
You do NOT have to be a REPUBLICAN to be a good Catholic.
What many of us are trying to point out is that you CANNOT support those who ADVOCATE EVIL and be a good Catholic. Scripture does not command universal health care coverage by government mandate, no matter how good an idea we may think it to be… But It DOES command THOU SHALT NOT MURDER.
So a Catholic cannot vote for an Advocate of Baby Killing in order to support a particular health-care policy. THAT’s what many of us are trying to say.
I am a registered Republican, because of Reagan’s gutsy fight against world communism, but because of the worship-of-the-Rich-elites attitudes, I haven’t sent them a CHECK
in several years. Way too many of them, too, are in the pockets of the establisment elites and their commitment to proLife and traditional values has turned out to be MOSTLY pure rhetoric, with little action.
 
This is exactly the response I’m getting at my church as well, and frankly it leaves me wondering if I converted to the wrong religion. I’m really unhappy about that.

The Bible says nothing about decriminalizing drugs, for example. Drugs are surely evil but I don’t understand why legalizing them would “offend God.” How do you know the mind of God, if he never made any pronouncements about that?
Where does the Bible say pedophilia has to be illegal? The Bible does not talk about things in terms of legality, it talks about them in terms of morality. Drunkenness is condemned in the Bible as being a grave sin. Taking in alcohol or drugs with the intent of hindering our ability to reason is a sin. It also wrong for a whole host of practical reasons. Most physical abuse within families can be tracked back to substance abuse of some kind.
Am I misunderstanding, or are you really saying that we should NOT separate church and state? And if so, do you mean on a personal level we cannot separate our beliefs about govt from religion, or that we should apply our beliefs about religion to everyone through the state? I am strongly opposed to trying to make the whole country live by Catholic “rules” because we’re supposedly founded on religious freedom. Have you forgotten about the time not so long ago when Catholics were actively discriminated against? I want to protect religious freedom for everyone so they don’t come after mine and tell me I have to practice as a Baptist, for example.
As Catholics we should oppose all attempts by the government to promote things we know to be evil. While we don’t and in many cases should not demand that the government go after everything we believe is evil, we should oppose every attempt by the government to promote something that is evil as something that is good. That would be scandal. vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P80.HTM

Thus while we may say the government should recognize homosexual marriages, we would not say the government should go after couples who marry privately and try and split them up.
Although there were a few exceptions in this thread, it feels very much like the answer to my question was “yes, you have to be a Republican.” You may be saying “you can vote for whomever you want” as long as they (claim to be) pro-life, anti-gay marriage, tough on drugs, etc., which is essentially saying you can vote for Barney Rubble as long as he is conservative.
Abortion is the only issue that has been stated to be above and beyond all other issues. After that good luck with the balancing act. I still don’t why you think you have to be Republican to be a Catholic. As I mentioned before a majority of the Bishops probably support universal healthcare as well as allowing all illegal immigrants to stay in the country. I would be most oppose the Wars as well.
I know why the church is against abortion, but I don’t understand at all why being Catholic has to mean that I take a conservative stance on all the other issues. It feels like there is no room for individual thought at all.
Again, I would ask where you are getting this thing that we must be conservative on all the other issues? Abortion and gay marriage are really the only straight up ones I can think of. I do not believe the Democratic party even holds making gay marriage legal part of its platform.
 
I don’t completely agree with you, but on the ‘valuable tool’ that abortion is to Republicans, I concur 100%. All this is besides the fact that I am yet to see conclusive evidence that abortion rates are lower where abortion is illegal. I’m all for the moral statement such a law would make, but not enough that I’d hang my hopes on it as a solution.
Punt…
 
If the issue of abortion is simply viewed as a “valuable tool” for election purposes, there is certainly nothing to prevent either party from using it. The Democratic party could strike its pro-choice support from its platform and support life. That would be a welcome change.

But the Democratic Party of my youth is no more. It once favored workers and the poor. Now, increasingly it has become the party of abortion, gay marriage, free contraception, and now, the party which wishes to remove my freedom of religion.
 
Dear seekerz,

you have yet to know that abortion occurs less frequently where it is illegal???
You must be very young, seekerz.
Ask your parents and grandparents.
Abortions happened in America before 1973, but they were rare.
(Yes, some were botched, and some women died from botched abortions.
That does not mean that murder should be legalized).
I guarantee you most solemnly, that before 1973, there were NOT
anywhere REMOTELY NEAR 1-1/2 MILLION abortions annually in the United States.
Not even 1/150th that many. No way.
It took legalization in 1973, followed by the INUNDATION of pro-Abortion media propaganda, to convince many Americans that abortion was not a grave and Evil thing.
But deep down, ALL advocates of abortion know that it IS homicide.
That’s why many women who have had abortions are desperately sick at heart and conscience. That’s why Project Rachel and other groups like it are necessary.
Liberalism and doctrinaire political Liberals, despite some good things they did pre-1973,
have, since then, wrought GREAT HARM on the people of this Nation, spiritually, psychologically and morally. With liberal “Catholic” politicians leading the evil charge.
This never happened in Catholicism before the late 1960s.
This IS The Great Apostasy predicted by the Holy Spirit, through
the Apostle Paul, in the infallible scriptures, in Thessalonians.
This Great Apostasy, this MASSIVE falling away from the Truths of God by Catholics, is happening now. What it will lead to, is the rise of that mysterious figure the “antichrist” and the return of Christ to rescue the Church from this great tribulation she will be undergoing, thanks to the apostates. (Universal Salvation is a lie, scripture and church tradition explicitly predict otherwise). And when Christ returns while this is happening, those on the side of the ones persecuting the orthodox, are going to face more terror than our minds have ever dreamed could be possible.

But again, you don’t have to be a REPUBLICAN or a FISCAL CONSERVATIVE,
to be Catholic. But you DO have to agree with ALL, note ALL, defined Catholic FAITH and MORAL TEACHINGS. ALL without exception. Because if you DON’T agree with them, then when you sin, and you WILL, as I do and still sometimes will, you will not want, nor be able, to REPENT, because you will not accept that you are committing a sin.
And deliberate co-operation with Evil, is a SIN, so we CAN SIN by our votes.
A politician (and some of the proaborts are Republicans, by the way, including MS.
Todd-Whitman of New Jersey) who openly advocates abortion is openly advocating the killing of the innocent, the ALWAYS innocent. This is FAR MORE SERIOUS than one who advocates the Death Penalty for a Serial Killer, who, in fact, is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR from being innocent. I too advocate curtailing the use of the Death Penalty to give even these people a chance to repent (like God gave mass-killer King Manasseh, or murderer King David), but the Deathy Penalty, having originally been commanded by God Himself, is NOT “Sinful.” It is not always and everywhere, murder.
Abortion IS. ALWAYS, and EVERYWHERE, the taking of INNOCENT life. IT is ALWAYS a Sin.
 
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