States with more Catholics more favor gay rights

[Caveman]

The first 3 paragraphs from the article in USA Today;

States with more Catholics more favor gay rights

Want to predict which state might move next to legalize same-sex marriage? You might count Catholics. The higher their percentage of the population, the more likely the state is to… support gay rights.

This counter-intuitive finding is brought to you with a tip of two hats – mine to Mark Silk at Spiritual Politics and his to Robbie Jones who led Silk to a new study soon by be published by two Columbia University political scientists.

Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips examined public support and resulting political policy on eight issues including marriage, housing, adoption and hate crimes.

 

[Lead_Me_Home]

This is interesting but the article does not go into further detail about those who are practicing Catholics and those who merely identify themselves as Catholic because of cultural reasons. I know many people who say they are Catholic but never go to Mass, not even on Holy Days.

 

[Dale_M]

The article in the first post was prompted by an entry in the blog, Spiritual Politics. That blogger has a followup entry which is relevant. This time he is relying on data in an unpublished academic paper sent to him by Darren Sherkat, et al. of Southern Illinois University.

The money finding is that whereas just about everyone was in the same place on SSM in 1988 (Democrats and Republicans, Catholics and Protestants), now opposition has become locked into GOP identity.

That is to say, the most Republican groups in American society (including those Sherkat et al. call “sectarian Protestants”–i.e. your basic white evangelicals) oppose same-sex marriage at the same rate that everybody did 20 years ago. The problem for the GOP is that everybody else has moved toward acceptance–including Catholics, most of whom continue to identify as Democrats. Opposition to SSM, in short, has become a mark of Republicanism–not a good thing if you’re interested in expanding the party, as the proportion of Americans opposing SSM continues to shrink.

spiritual-politics.org/2009/07/catholics_same-sex_marriageand_the_gop.html

 

[CatholicBoy1957]

This is interesting but the article does not go into further detail about those who are practicing Catholics and those who merely identify themselves as Catholic because of cultural reasons. I know many people who say they are Catholic but never go to Mass, not even on Holy Days.

You could make the definition of “practicng Catholics” even more restrictive than just those that attend mass. What about the Catholics that do not believe in Catholicism but instead believe in Protestantism, in other words, believe in Private Interpretation, as opposed to Magisterium? What is it about the Catholic Church that invites members to feel free to not believe?

 

[edwest2]

The problem is not with the Church. Since God does not force anyone to love Him, and a priest doesn’t show up at your front door asking why you missed Mass, people drift away. Too often, based on what I’ve seen, people do not form associations and relationships with their fellow Catholics as they once did. I’m not saying all don’t but too many go to Church, put in their hour, get in their cars and drive home.

I realize people are busy, with some holding down two or three jobs. A priest on Catholic Radio told listeners that if you want a relationship with Christ, you need to spend time with Him. He puts in one hour every day. And he does get busy, but he needs to put time into his relationship with the Lord. It’s been shown that people who go to Church regularly are more likely to follow Church teaching.

Pope Benedict said recently that we should all spend a little time with God each day. Another priest said we should talk to God as we would an intimate friend. To trust in Him.

I encourage you.

Peace,
Ed

 

[thunderballs75]

They count as Catholics those who are not very devout. We all know what the Church teaches. However, cradle Catholics tend to not agree with the Church on anything, if they even know what the Church teaches.