I received some very interesting responses from my post about religion and politics. Two in particular were very thought-provoking; the first because it was from a more orthodox Catholic viewpoint, and the second was more liberal. Below is a portion the first response, I’ll get to the second response next Monday.
I'm not a bible-quoting, bible-thumping, type of guy, but one Catholic to another, you may want to be careful about giving moral cover to proponents of the "culture of death". We all will face "Judgment Day". I don't pretend to be prepared for that day myself and I have plenty of my own moral warts I need to deal with. ...I'm not trying to sound holier than thou (because I'm probably not), I'm just suggesting some things you may want to consider before dismissing Catholic teaching as archaic and irrelevant. You may think this is trite, but the fate of our eternal souls may be in the balance on such things. As Catholics, God holds us to a higher standard than non-Catholics and non-Christians: "to whom much is given, much is expected."
I want to be clear that I don't dismiss anything about Catholic teaching. I believe in the benefits of it so much that I will continue to support it even though I have come to some contrary conclusions about how I live my life.
I believe that there is a distinction between "giving moral cover to the culture of death" and believing that something should be legal. I'm sure you'll agree with me that there are many, many things that are immoral but not illegal, and that the difference is a large one.
What I see George Bush doing in his position of power is setting up legislation what will threaten the civil liberties of citizens who do not believe in the same things he does. I see him moving towards a state in which civil law and religious moral code are aligned, making Christianity the de facto state religion.
Respond
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