Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics

[babylonsister]

3/4 page ad in USA Today I just turned to from yesterday's paper. Their non-negotiable items don't leave much wiggle room, do they. :eyes:

snip//

The Five Non-negotiable Issues:

Abortion
Euthanasia
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Human Cloning
Homosexual 'Marriage'


Sigh.

Catholic Answers Action, from CA

www.caaaction.com


I'm not promoting any of this, just wanted you to be aware of what this group is pushing.

[sandnsea]

1. war, hunger, disease, hate, violence

all negotiable. I guess I'm just done with the Church.

[Beausoleil]

2. Negotiable items

Unprovoked wars of aggression
Torture
Pedophilia

I guess these are OK if you go to confession.


Edit: Speeling

[BOSSHOG]

3. I guess Pedophilia is negotiable

I am Catholic. I haven't been to church in four years. I am a better Catholic then the majority who insist on giving money so the church can settle claims against their priests.

[onehandle]

4. For the record, that's some individual group, not the church itself.

Just like Every religion, most members are average normal people, a minority are over the top.

[babylonsister]

7. Yes, that's why I edited it. It is an individual group, but they seem

determined to get this out.

[rvablue]

5. It's a good thing that most Catholics are not monolithic drones like fundies

I'm Catholic and this is meaningless to me.

Obama is winning the Catholic vote, as do most (if not all???? does anyone have numbers to the contrary???) Democratic presidential candidates in modern history.

These fringe groups that run these ads have very little sway over your run of the mill traditional Catholic and pose no real serious threat.

[redwitch]

8. Meaningless to this Catholic too.

Cafeteria Catholics like me ignore morans like this.

[TomClash]

6. Luke 12:57

As Jesus said, "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?"

[kath]

9. See this thread for some Catholic and Christian groups that are countering that message:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4344866#4345270

[hedgehog]

10. This so -called guide selectively edits the actual bishops' letter

which covers far more topics and is far more nuanced.

For example:

Abortion, the deliberate killing of a human being before birth, is
never morally acceptable and must always be opposed. Cloning and destruction
of human embryos for research or even for potential cures are always wrong. The
purposeful taking of human life by assisted suicide and euthanasia is not an act
of mercy, but an unjustifiable assault on human life. Genocide, torture, and the
direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war or terrorist attacks are
always wrong.

We also promote a culture of life by
supporting laws and programs that encourage childbirth and adoption over
abortion and by addressing poverty, providing health care, and offering other
assistance to pregnant women, children, and families.

The Church has raised fundamental moral concerns
about preventive use of military force. Our Church honors the commitment
and sacrifice of those who serve in our nation’s armed forces, and also recognizes
the moral right to conscientious objection to war in general, a particular war, or a
military procedure.
Even when military force can be justified as a last resort, it should not be indiscriminate
or disproportionate. Direct and intentional attacks on noncombatants
in war and terrorist acts are never morally acceptable. The use of weapons of mass
destruction or other means of warfare that do not distinguish between civilians and soldiers is fundamentally immoral.
The United States has a responsibility to work
to reverse the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and to reduce
its own reliance on weapons of mass destruction by pursuing progressive nuclear
disarmament. It also must end its use of anti-personnel landmines and reduce
its predominant role in the global arms trade.


http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf


That said, I feel the bishops as a whole merit Yeats' description:

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."