God's Own Party
I'm Catholic, insofar as I can claim any particular faith. Now, our founders thought separation of church and state was a pretty good idea, but they thought a lot of things were good ideas, and I can dig how a person's faith could affect their politic.
Now, whichever side of the political Roy G. Biv you fall on, I don't think you can deny that religious convictions are having a lot more of an effect on US politics nowadays than they have in recent history.
Fortunately for those of who didn't jump ships when Martin Luther invented protestantism, you can now find out whether or not you vote like the bishops.
And if you think I'm being a little wishy-washy about my own politics: 33%/-57%/35%: Bishops, Bush, Kerry. I was most in alignment with the Church on matters of Global Solidarity and Social Justice, and most out of alignment on Family Life.
The reason I'm blogging this isn't just in case anyone else wants to find out where they stand in relation to the candidates and the Vatican, but to make an observation. And instead of explaining it in painful detail, I'll just reduce it to a friendly little sound byte:
Folks, the question should not be "I'm a Catholic. How should I feel about the issues?" It should be, "Here's how I feel about the issues. What does that say about my faith?"
Oh, and the title of this article? Some folks at Republican events have taken to displaying that motto, reinforcing the association between American Fundamentalist Christianity and the Right. Why do I care? It's made the rounds, but I'll say it anyway. I'm not proposing a conspiracy or anything other than an unfortunate coincidence, but try translating "God's Own Party" into Arabic. I'm not making it up.
God will have His little jokes.
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Now, whichever side of the political Roy G. Biv you fall on, I don't think you can deny that religious convictions are having a lot more of an effect on US politics nowadays than they have in recent history.
Fortunately for those of who didn't jump ships when Martin Luther invented protestantism, you can now find out whether or not you vote like the bishops.
And if you think I'm being a little wishy-washy about my own politics: 33%/-57%/35%: Bishops, Bush, Kerry. I was most in alignment with the Church on matters of Global Solidarity and Social Justice, and most out of alignment on Family Life.
The reason I'm blogging this isn't just in case anyone else wants to find out where they stand in relation to the candidates and the Vatican, but to make an observation. And instead of explaining it in painful detail, I'll just reduce it to a friendly little sound byte:
Folks, the question should not be "I'm a Catholic. How should I feel about the issues?" It should be, "Here's how I feel about the issues. What does that say about my faith?"
Oh, and the title of this article? Some folks at Republican events have taken to displaying that motto, reinforcing the association between American Fundamentalist Christianity and the Right. Why do I care? It's made the rounds, but I'll say it anyway. I'm not proposing a conspiracy or anything other than an unfortunate coincidence, but try translating "God's Own Party" into Arabic. I'm not making it up.
God will have His little jokes.
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