Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics

[vodkafan]

The bigger the hat the more profound his authority eh..?

[Dolorian]

Well , Dolorian I can only give my own opinion on what I have reasoned to feel is right.

And that is perfectly fine and it is exactly the sort of thing I am hoping to see people post in this thread I am personally still figuring things out myself. As a Catholic I just had to "follow the list", so to speak. But now I am kind of going back to the drawing board on these things and reasoning things through.

[StealthySkeptic]

Well, I was actually looking more for reasons why people are in favor of the five things Catholics can't vote for, was interested in hearing the other side. Are these things right? Are they benefitial to society? Why? What are the problems with the opposing view?

Focusing things on the priciples of secularism doesn't really answers why these things should be voted for. The problem I see with what you are saying is that in this view voting "impartially" seems to be equated with supporting those things and it is also assumed that opposing and legistating against it means a violation of secular principles. But this really need not be the case.

Dolorian, simply opposing these things doesn't violate the principle of secularism, of course not... But opposing any of these things because of your religion and wanting to legislate against them with your religion as a legal paradigm violates clearly the principle of secularism - Since the church is regulating public decisions indirectly.

As for being against or in favour of any of those five matters, I think it's mostly a question of choice - If you're not a Catholic you have a much greater freedom to support those things, but it doesn't mean you have to. Many people think all atheists are nice liberal people but there's lot of prejudiced atheists out there who dislike gays as much as Christians - And most pro-choice people I know are atheists or at least non religious, but then again I don't know a lot of devout Christians in real life. Human cloning is always a controversial issue, I have mixed views on it, there are pros and cons, the same can be said for euthanasia, I support it, but I wouldn't do it nor would I euthanize anyone. As for stem cell research involving embryos, I haven't made enough research on it so I cannot comment the problem.

I don't think being a non believer per se makes you automatically socially liberal, but it does make you more likely, you won't find many atheists against gay marriage, and even those who are against abortion morally/ethically will be pro-choice to not impose their personal morality on others. Even when it comes to euthanasia, you may not be capable of doing it, but most atheists would say I wouldn't do it, but other people can do as they wish.

I think a lot of the reason for that being the case is because atheists (somewhat in this country, but more so in others) have gone through (loosly) similar minority stresses as LGBT people, so that means that they can be more likely to support gay marriage. It's little wonder, then, that Richard Dawkins' campaign to encourage closeted atheists to come out is called the Out Campaign.

[vodkafan]

Well , Dolorian I can only give my own opinion on what I have reasoned to feel is right.

And that is perfectly fine and it is exactly the sort of thing I am hoping to see people post in this thread I am personally still figuring things out myself. As a Catholic I just had to "follow the list", so to speak. But now I am kind of going back to the drawing board on these things and reasoning things through.

Glad I could help. Good luck.

[Minimalist]

The bigger the hat the more profound his authority eh..?

That does seem to be the way it works.

[Anomalocaris]

Hey, where's the section on butt-fucking altar boys?

Surely they have a guide for that, too?

In that anything goes, no guidance is needed.

[Zack]

I don't think you are a very good Catholic or voter if you need said book to determine how your vote is cast. The euthanasia topic fails to mention they are also opposed to the death penalty.

[Lucanus]

The bigger the hat the more profound his authority eh..?

That does seem to be the way it works.

Uncle Ben always said "with great dickheads come great hats"...

@OP: that's basically the sum of italian politics

[RobbyPants]

5. Homosexual "Marriage": True marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Legal recognition of any other union as "marriage" undermines true marriage...

If gay marriage isn't "true" marriage, then what's the big fucking deal? Their argument that marriage is somehow this special sacred thing involving God, yet their complaint is that gay people are trying to get the same legal rights and protections. Legal rights have fuck-all to do with special spiritual connotations. They need to get their rhetoric straight.

[CapnAwesome]

It's funny how the person who wrote this article (which has been around for ages) cherry picks Catholic positions to make it seem as though the only thing for religious Catholics to do is vote for Republicans. How about the church being against the Iraq war or the Death penalty? The Vatican is ultra-clear on those issues and in fact there are hard-core Catholics who protest almost every execution in the U.S. The Church is at least, if not more clear on those positions than it is on stem cell research. I can't stand the guise of being non-partisan dishonesty when what the person really wants to say is 'Catholics should vote Republican' If that's what you believe than just say it and stop being a pussy.