Guide Urges Catholics to Shun Kerry

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- A political guide is urging Catholics to vote against candidates who support abortion rights, stem-cell research and other "evil" issues -- an appeal that could undercut Democratic Sen. John Kerry's candidacy.

Catholic Answers, an independent group based in El Cajon, Calif., expects to distribute 3 million copies of its "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics" nationally by the end of the month. The guide urges Catholic voters to disavow candidates who support euthanasia, human cloning and gay marriage.

"These five current issues concern actions that are intrinsically evil and must never be promoted by the law," the guide says.

"It is a serious sin to deliberately endorse or promote any of these actions, and no candidate who really wants to advance the common good will support any action contrary to the nonnegotiable principles involved in these issues," it says.

The guide also was published Tuesday in a full-page newspaper ad in USA Today.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-catholics-politics,0,6232172.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[deadparrot]

1. Nothing about the death penalty and wars deemed unjust by the Vatican, eh?

Damn, I hate my religion sometimes.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. Even the Catholic Church knows that all stem cells aren't bad...

Only Bush can't figure out that all stem cells aren't from fetuses!!
Duckie

[genius]

3. It is inconsistent with the position of the Pope. We need to do a full

page add quoting the Pope when he said it was okay for Catholics to vote pro-choice in this election.

[AlCzervik]

4. My husbands family are all Roman Catholic

and none of them are happy with the church and are pissed about them making public statements about politcs until they clean up their own backyard.

[Boomer]

5. But slaughtering Iraqis is okay?

Bush's unprovoked attack against another country led to the death of thousands of women and children and even pregnant women and their unborn children. But evidently this doesn't figure into the "intrinsically evil" equation of voting, eh?

Sheesh. Since neither party meets strict Catholic standards, maybe they should all just stay home from the polls.

[roguevalley]

6. they need to lose their tax exempt status, the bastards

[diamond14]

7. likely another rovian tactic..KKKarl rove has no way to stop the Catholics

from voting for KERRY....Catholics for JFK...it just warms our souls...


it's obviously reTHUGlican attacks...publishing booklets that claim to be Catholic....attacking Kerry for receiving Holy Communion...rove has done EVERYTHING that he can possibly do....but surprise....CATHOLICS WILL VOTE FOR JFK (John F. Kerry)....bye bye bush*, we don't want no fundie born-again killer in the White House....

[IndianaGreen]

8. Catholic Answers considers Protestants to be heretics

Here is what they say about heresies, specifically Protestantism, on their website:

Protestantism (16th Century)

Protestant groups display a wide variety of different doctrines. However, virtually all claim to believe in the teachings of sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone"—the idea that we must use only the Bible when forming our theology) and sola fide ("by faith alone"— the idea that we are justified by faith only).

The great diversity of Protestant doctrines stems from the doctrine of private judgment, which denies the infallible authority of the Church and claims that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself. This idea is rejected in 2 Peter 1:20, where we are told the first rule of Bible interpretation: "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation." A significant feature of this heresy is the attempt to pit the Church "against" the Bible, denying that the magisterium has any infallible authority to teach and interpret Scripture.

The doctrine of private judgment has resulted in an enormous number of different denominations. According to The Christian Sourcebook, there are approximately 20-30,000 denominations, with 270 new ones being formed each year. Virtually all of these are Protestant.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Great_Heresies.asp

[DieboldMustDie]

9. American Catholic Bishops should speak out against Catholic Answers...

presuming to speak for their church.   I can't imagine they will, but I sure wish they would. :shrug:

[GRLMGC]

10. In the U.S.

I'm gonna make an assumption here. I'm gonna assume that most American Catholics aren't that hardcore that they'll give up common sense for what the Vatican says.

[brooklynite]

11. I thought the Catholic Church was opposed to Capital Punishment as well...

No discussion of Bush's record there? Well, maybe all that "all life is sacred" talk was just marketing.

[jackieforthedems]

12. Born Catholic And Sick

I'm a born Catholic, but getting sick of the Church's hypocrisy - just about ready to leave. When the child molestation ceases completely, etc..., then maybe I'll consider letting them brain wash me into following a President, who isn't even of the Catholic faith, persuade me. Not!!!

[sr_pacifica]

13. This guide's assertions are bad theology

"Intrinsically evil"---wrong! This guide would never get the imprimatur.

[Endangered Specie]

14. So let me get this straight...

Women in control of their bodies... BAD
Fondling the choir boy... GOOD

Scientific Research to save lives... BAD
Protecting Child Molestors... GOOD

[CBHagman]

15. They really just pick and choose their issues.

Catholic Answers is its own type of cafeteria Catholic, though they'd probably deny that. There are similar groups around the country who have been looking down on the rest of the human race for decades and occasionally appearing to squawk.

The Catholic church I attend has repeatedly said that the church does not advocate for or against a particular candidate but urges voters to become informed and carefully consider their choices.

Catholic Answers certainly does not represent most of us and should not be mistaken for some groundswell of support for Bush within the Catholic Church.

[Zorra]

16. Catholics seem to just love those fascists. Pics of Catholics and Nazis:

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

You would think the catholics would have learned their lesson when the last batch of Nazis raised their ugly pointed little heads. Now they are supporting them again in America.

[bvar22]

17. Some activism needed here:

Another pamphlet stating:

The Pope fears that bush* may be the "anti-christ"

The Pope has declared that the War against the Iraqi People is unjust and immoral! "If you go to Iraq, you go without God!"

That Catholics may vote their conscience.