Our Church leaders have failed to make these points clear - and we reap the wild wind now.
Many of the bishops are getting pretty clear, now. The media doesn’t give them as much attention as it gives the “Catholic” politicians who are dissenters.
And many Catholics hide behind whatever justification they can find for voting for their political preferences and not for Life–like, “the Republicans have been in office before but have never overturned RvW,” as if that were the only achievement that they would accept of a Pro-Life politician.
And then there are priests (like one, at least, that I know) who don’t understand the concept of “non-negotiables.” They think the entire social teaching comprises the “non-negotiables,” without realizing that we can differ greatly on what is the best way to help the poor–but we cannot differ at all about if/when it is okay to kill babies or allow other people to kill theirs. THAT’s the difference. The non-negotiables are straightforward.
There’s no negotiating on “how” or “to what extent is this permissible” on these issues. Whereas there’s plenty of room for discussion on the best way to care for the poor, to defend freedoms, to create a just legal and corrections system, etc.
Yet many Catholics, even priests and religious, don’t understand that distinction. They may even say “NO killing is ever justified” (ignoring just war doctrine and using military and capital punishment concerns to vote pro-abortion instead). Or they may say that scale doesn’t matter–one person dead is as bad as the abortion of millions of innocents, so you can’t rank abortion higher than some other life issue.
Problem is, God gave us the gift of Reason for a reason. And it is irrational to hold such positions, illogical to make such arguments.
I unfriended a Catholic friend who proudly voted for Obama in 2008 and again this time. I’ve tried for at least a year to break into her Fort Knox of a mind…To get her to understand that what she is doing is sinning mortally by voting for such a person - who endorses all 5 non-negotiables for Catholic voters. I made no impact. Just like the forum members here who defend their political viewpoints with “social justice” instead of the #1 issue which is the murder of innocent babies.
One way to put it to people that I think is more effective than most is to compare it to slavery:
If a politician that you loved in every other way endorsed legalized slavery, intending to make/keep legal the continued dehumanization of a whole class of people into a state of property that can be bought, sold, or destroyed upon the “owner’s” whim, could you possibly vote for that person?
That’s no mere hypothetical. That was a real question in the 1800s in this country. You couldn’t be an abolitionist and vote for a pro-slavery candidate then. You can’t call yourself Pro-Life and vote for a Pro-abortion candidate now. No matter what other issues.
The sad thing is, this argument works sometimes because people see slavery (and racism) as more abhorrent than abortion (murder of innocent babies). And they see the crime of slavery as worse than the crime of murder. Abortion is, of course,
objectively, a far greater crime on a far greater scale than slavery ever was.
So sad for our nation today. There’s something very wrong when just a few counties can rule the entire nation with their votes.
Mob rule by easily-demagogued cities is how Greece and Rome fell. America has now all but fallen, too. Neither of those empires ever recovered.
The lie here that will become the next great heresy that we must confront is that the State is the savior, and material things and goods are the be all and end all of existence. A right to impose on others for your ease of living, entertainment, and promotion of your lifestyle is becoming the new demand. State and Self are the idols. And the misery that our culture will fall into because of it, already so widely apparent in the addictions and broken relationships of our time, will be tremendous.
We must bear the message of Christ into the world, that HE is our Savior, the one we look to for our peace, joy, and providence, not the State. And that SelfLESSness is the only way to fulfillment, not selfishness.
