Recently on Facebook, when asked to comment on an article by Jim Wallis arguing that the Occupy Wall Street movement’s emphases were largely in line with Christian principles, I wrote:
“I think that for a long time, the church was co-opted by the right for their purposes. Now I think the church is being co-opted by the left for their purposes. I think for the most part the left and the right are motivated by greed, not by faith. I think the church must stand as the church and stop being used. Both sides thrive on greed, and the church [all too often] naively walks alongside of one side or another.”
While I admit that I have not yet reviewed the document referenced in the article below (and am sure I would disagree with some of it), I must say that I admire the bishops for making clear that being a good citizen as a Christian is not nearly as easy as many assume in our day. Christians can not simply be one issue people and likewise they can ignore no one issue.
The Church does best when it stands by itself and serves two purposes in regards to the civil discourse. It should expose sin and injustice in both parties. It should also promote civil righteousness. Then the political parties would be forced to look at themselves critically rather than seeking to co-opt the Church into their camp (often by deceit). The church standing alone is more important even than voting on election day to the well-being of our society I believe.
What do you think?
Bishops warn that church teaching is non-partisan
With the 2012 campaign gearing up before an angry and divided electorate, U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday reminded Catholic voters that they can’t cherry-pick from church teachings to justify their own political preferences, and cautioned both sides not to edit the bishops’ statements into “voter guides” to back one party or another.
The bishops’ document aims to apply “Catholic moral principles” to a host of issues, and warns against “misguided appeals to ‘conscience’ to ignore fundamental moral claims.” At the same time, the bishops warn that it should not be used to “reduce Catholic moral concerns to one or two matters,” or used to justify “partisan, ideological, or personal interests.”
“Democrats can’t ignore abortion and gay marriage,” said the official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, “and Republicans can’t say that’s all that matters.”
So true and well said. A few of my friends and I got into a political discussion the other day and someone brought up that they could not vote for a certain candidate because he was pro-abortion. I am completely anti-abortion, but I argued that I don’t think abortion can be the be-all, end-all when it comes to voting. All other things being equal, yes I would vote for the anti-abortion candidate, but are all things ever really equal? In addition to abortion, how many babies (born and unborn) die every year because the mother lacks access to affordable, quality medical care? How many die as a result of substance abuse or domestic violence? Are these ills not also Christian concerns? As Christians, how can we say that a candidate’s stance on foreign policy is not important when American foreign policy has such a massive effect on our Christian brothers and sisters in the wider world?
My husband got a call a little while ago from a friend who wanted to make sure he knew about Issues Sunday, or something to that effect. Basically, it was about a group of churches all picking the same Sunday to speak directly from the pulpit specifically about political candidates and issues, in open defiance of the IRS regulations on non-profits. My husband said that in no way would he ever participate in an event that sought to turn the church into just another PR tool at the disposal of campaign managers.