Faith, values and voting

My Catholic Faith Pushes Me To Obama. This is the best article I've seen for conflating Catholic social teaching and voting for The One. I dissent however. (Ed: Big surprise there Duffy!) Quiet you!

Anyway, the horns of the dilemma is this: If (and that's a mighty big if) you can put aside the issue of abortion, the race tightens significantly in terms of adherence to the issues.

I can see no way around the Big If so it seems plainly evident that if one is to use Church teachings to tally a score and vote accordingly that one is a showstopper.

I don't really think Catholic values align very closely with either party. If you agree with the church on everything you end up being viewed as a grand contradiction in the manichean world of Left v. Right, Dem vs. GOP, etc.

My point, and I do have one, is that there is room for reasonable people to disagree without all the cynicism and bile and vitriol. Quite frankly, the MSM has taken up the mantle of the 527's on the left and bloggers have stepped in that role on the right.

h/t: Deacon Greg

Comments

Jeff the Baptist said…
I'm pretty sure the Right makes out better on all the Humanae Vitae issues, not just abortion.

As for her analysis of her rundown steel-town college years, she misses out on the fact that mills closed because the steel workers largely exploited their companies past the breaking point. The reason for the decline in the US manufacturing sector is labor costs (alright and stupid management who assumed the good times would always roll), not rich corporate misers.
3:13 PM
The Last Ephor said…
I agree but let's remember she's an idealistic college student who finds herself steeped in two worlds: one of idyllic life on campus and the hard reality of dead and dying manufacturing towns. It's not easy to square that circle esp. when viewed through the prism of faith.
4:29 PM
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