Another late night, old fashioned, rant...
This kind of stuff really bugs me about my religion.
Going to Confession is never a bad thing for Catholics, but for a priest to come out and tell people to go if they voted for Barack Obama is just reprehensible.
I'm a firm believer in the separation of church and state, so I really don't think priests or any other figure of religious authority should be making unsolicited statements regarding political matters. Whether you agree with this or not isn't the point however.
It's important to look at both what is being done and what is being said. President Bush was staunchly pro-life, but I don't think abortion has been outlawed in the country nor has it been a central issue of Bush's presidency. Does that mean that anyone who voted for Bush needs to go to confession? What about capital punishment? The church is pretty clear that that's a sin. Bush and McCain support it as do many other politicians. Is the War in Iraq considered just by church standards? Nope.
It seems as if the clergy who are making these public remarks are giving politicians a pass as long as they pay lip service to the church's beliefs, then go off and do whatever will keep them in power.
I understand why politicians do this. You can call it cynical or immoral, but when you get down to it, politics and religion couldn't be more different. Religion is clean; there are guidelines, dogma, that any believer can point to and say "this is right, and this is wrong." Politics has no such system because the world isn't a vacuum, every decision that a secular leader makes has major consequences that affect the country as a whole, a country that has many beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. It is why the best secular leaders tend to operate under shades of gray. I want a leader who will mull over his decisions based on competing conceptions of what is good. One who makes a decision knowing that it will piss some people off and feels bad about it, but does it anyway.
Getting back to the point, Obama stated his case regarding abortion early in his campaign. Essentially it the belief of many people who are pro-choice - abortion is never a good thing, and the government should do all it can to support programs that can lower abortion rates - easier adoptions, better foster care system, keeping families together, etc. After having done all of this however, it isn't a decision the government can or should make for anyone. This seems more like a much more proactive and nuanced response to this difficult question than sitting around waiting for a Supreme Court Justice to retire so you can hopefully overturn Roe v. Wade.
Granted, this one priest doesn't speak for the entire church and even his own bishop came out and tried to clarify, and tone down, his statements (read the article), but it still doesn't sit well with me. Thoughts?
PS - I apologize if anything I wrote doesn't make sense or just seems like inane ramblings; I'm very tired.
Going to Confession is never a bad thing for Catholics, but for a priest to come out and tell people to go if they voted for Barack Obama is just reprehensible.
I'm a firm believer in the separation of church and state, so I really don't think priests or any other figure of religious authority should be making unsolicited statements regarding political matters. Whether you agree with this or not isn't the point however.
It's important to look at both what is being done and what is being said. President Bush was staunchly pro-life, but I don't think abortion has been outlawed in the country nor has it been a central issue of Bush's presidency. Does that mean that anyone who voted for Bush needs to go to confession? What about capital punishment? The church is pretty clear that that's a sin. Bush and McCain support it as do many other politicians. Is the War in Iraq considered just by church standards? Nope.
It seems as if the clergy who are making these public remarks are giving politicians a pass as long as they pay lip service to the church's beliefs, then go off and do whatever will keep them in power.
I understand why politicians do this. You can call it cynical or immoral, but when you get down to it, politics and religion couldn't be more different. Religion is clean; there are guidelines, dogma, that any believer can point to and say "this is right, and this is wrong." Politics has no such system because the world isn't a vacuum, every decision that a secular leader makes has major consequences that affect the country as a whole, a country that has many beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. It is why the best secular leaders tend to operate under shades of gray. I want a leader who will mull over his decisions based on competing conceptions of what is good. One who makes a decision knowing that it will piss some people off and feels bad about it, but does it anyway.
Getting back to the point, Obama stated his case regarding abortion early in his campaign. Essentially it the belief of many people who are pro-choice - abortion is never a good thing, and the government should do all it can to support programs that can lower abortion rates - easier adoptions, better foster care system, keeping families together, etc. After having done all of this however, it isn't a decision the government can or should make for anyone. This seems more like a much more proactive and nuanced response to this difficult question than sitting around waiting for a Supreme Court Justice to retire so you can hopefully overturn Roe v. Wade.
Granted, this one priest doesn't speak for the entire church and even his own bishop came out and tried to clarify, and tone down, his statements (read the article), but it still doesn't sit well with me. Thoughts?
PS - I apologize if anything I wrote doesn't make sense or just seems like inane ramblings; I'm very tired.