Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion

This is an excellent op-ed by the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame University. He addresses all those things which should give any Catholic voting for Bush pause for thought:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/opinion/11roche.html?oref=regi

By MARK W. ROCHE

Published: October 11, 2004


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More important, given the most distinctive issue of the current election, Catholics who support President Bush must reckon with the Catholic doctrine of "just war." This doctrine stipulates that a war is just only if all possible alternative strategies have been pursued to their ultimate conclusion; the war is conducted in accordance with moral principles (for example, the avoidance of unnecessary civilian casualties and the treatment of prisoners with dignity); and the war leads to a more moral state of affairs than existed before it began. While Mr. Kerry, like many other Democrats, voted for the war, he has since objected to the way it was planned and waged.
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Second, politics is the art of the possible. During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years, but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent
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In many ways, Catholic voters' growing political independence has led to a profusion of moral dilemmas: they often feel they must abandon one good for the sake of another. But while they may be dismayed at John Kerry's position on abortion and stem-cell research, they should be no less troubled by George W. Bush's stance on the death penalty, health care, the environment and just war. Given the recent history of higher rates of abortion with Republicans in the White House, along with the tradition of Democratic support of equitable taxes and greater integration into the world community, more Catholics may want to reaffirm their tradition of allegiance to the Democratic Party in 2004
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Mark W. Roche is dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame.

"During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years, but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent"

changing the law sometimes. My favorite is the pregnancy rates in Texas after they took up abstinence only sex ed. :hi:

Adminstration philosophic and economic theories conflict with Jesus' own words and actions. Believing Christians must exercise their own internal wisdom in this regard. Lazy Christians will vote according to some prominent personality who, for example, declares that it is God's will is that the poor will always be with us so we can take their plight with a large grain of political salt.

Active Christians will honestly ask themselves, "If Jesus went out of his way to heal the poor, how is it we continue to stumble along in this country distracted by who marrys who, creationism versus evolution, and why a military crusade to force peace on the world are all more important than our own sick and poor?