I rarely
ever talk about politics, but I feel compelled, much like I did to write this blog post. A friend of mine posted a
"question" on her blog about whether or not a Catholic could vote for
Obama. I say "question" because the rest of the post seemed to be
reasons to say you aren't Catholic if you do. You can read the post here. Basically she cites issues related to the
sanctity of life and gay marriage. You can see my stance on gay marriage in the
first link, and as far as sanctity of life read on.
I
do not deny that the sanctity of life is very important. As I posted on
Facebook status that really prompted me, being pro-life is fundamental to who I
am, and I mean all stages of life. Before I got into theology, before my senior
year in high school, a horrendous hate crime was committed in east
Texas, 3 white supremacists drug James Byrd behind their pick-up
truck to his death. I recall talking with my mom about this as we were going
into Kroger as the trial was starting. I remember telling her something to
effect of: I know what those guys did was awful, and they really deserve some
major punishment, but I don't think we should kill them for it. Even then I saw
the death penalty as a violation of the sanctity of life. Consequently,
one of those murderers, Lawrence Russell Brewer, is now the cause of those on
death row no longer getting a special last meal because he ordered enough food
for at least four people and ate none of it. The waste of food really made me
mad, but that is another issue for another time.
The
sanctity of life is not a negotiable issue for me. I believe that life should
be protected and cherished from conception to natural death, in all cases. That
being said, I hate that our major political parties have aligned themselves so
firmly on either side of the debate. I see it as a manipulative strategy on the
part of the parties to get people to align themselves with one party or another
based on that issue where otherwise, they may not. And I do understand that
there are pro-chose republicans and pro-life democrats, but they are very small
minorities in the parties. Especially as Catholics we are told over and over we
should not vote for Pro-choice candidates, unless of course there is a very
legitimate well-founded reason for doing so. So, you end up with Catholics
feeling locked in to vote republican to be true to their faith.
Realistically
though, whether a candidate is pro-life or pro-choice, doesn't seem to matter
to them after 7 PM on election day. Pro-life politicians at high levels of
government don't seem to be doing anything to overturn Roe v. Wade. For
example, Bush 43 ran on a pro-life platform and did nothing to help make
abortion illegal. Along those same lines, abortion being illegal doesn't really
solve the life issue either. The real issue
is that we need to change people’s hearts with regard to these issues, a law
will not be effective without a change of heart. Before abortion was legal,
people were having abortions, usually much to the detriment on the mother’s
health, and even in the 1st and 2nd centuries, infanticide was regular in the
Roman Empire. This isn't a new issue and laws have certainly not done
anything to change the hearts of people in regards to it.
I say how you vote depends where
your conscience leads you (falling back on my Thomistic roots) presuming you
have formed your conscience well. There could be well-found reasons for voting
for a pro-choice candidate.
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