{"id":938,"date":"2016-02-02T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T08:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/02\/catholics-for-bernie-sanders.html"},"modified":"2016-02-02T08:12:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T08:12:00","slug":"catholics-for-bernie-sanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/02\/catholics-for-bernie-sanders.html","title":{"rendered":"Catholics for Bernie Sanders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

Yes, it can happen.\u00a0 I freely admit that, using some strange and incompressible logic, a Catholic in good faith could support Sanders and still be a Catholic in good faith.\u00a0 Where we struggle with our pilgrimage in a fallen world, anything can happen.\u00a0 In an election, in a secular nation, forced to choose between flawed people, choosing the lesser of two evils can be a valid choice.\u00a0 Assuming, of course, that it is the lesser of two evils. <\/p>\n

But I noticed something.\u00a0 Over at National Catholic Register<\/a>, Mark Shea steps forward and gives a name to this rule.\u00a0 For years, Mark joined other Catholics on the Internet who strongly suggested that voting was inherently dangerous to one\u2019s soul.\u00a0 At least voting in a national election.\u00a0 Especially voting in the presidential races.\u00a0 While he never came out and said it was impossible, the overwhelming focus of his writings was on calling people to the higher way, rather than holding your nose and choosing the lesser of two evils.<\/p>\n

Witness this piece from 2011<\/a>.\u00a0 There is little difference between it and the one over at the Register this month.\u00a0 But there is one glaring difference.\u00a0 Mark tends to do a Jekyll and Hyde in his ministry.\u00a0 In the world of Catholic talks and Catholic publications, Mark can come off as a kindly, knowing and\u00a0wise teacher who understands our struggles and lovingly tries to help guide us along the narrow way.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In the world of Social Media, however, Mr. Hyde takes over and it\u2019s a bizarre Catholic version of Jack Chick without the charm.\u00a0 Stereotypes,\u00a0laughably dismissible logic, false accusations, demonstrably flawed premises all dominate.\u00a0 And any who call him out are subject to almost slanderous attacks, tribalist memes, and accusations of not trusting in Jesus or listening to the Church.\u00a0 In that second context, Mark never gave ground on the issue of \u2018voting for the lesser evil.\u2019\u00a0 Every time it was brought up \u2013 unless it was brought up by a personal friend of Mark\u2019s \u2013 it was smacked down.\u00a0 It was called out as selling one\u2019s soul for partisan tribalism.\u00a0 It was outright condemned.\u00a0 If Mark advocated for a politician, like Ron Paul, it was because Mark was clear that the individual in no way supported that which was evil.\u00a0 Those who in any way tried to hold out for the lesser of two evils were taken to the verbal woodshed. <\/p>\n

Yes, in his Catholic Publications persona, Mark conceded that it could be done.\u00a0 After all, the Bishops make it clear that it can be done.\u00a0 But Mark was careful never to condone it in a specific case, and he always stepped forward and pointed to the higher way as the preferred alternative.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

And yet now, in 2016, Mark breaks that trend.\u00a0 While still insisting he will remain forever and happily in the bleachers rather than join a team and help it win, Mark acknowledges that one can, in fact, choose the lesser of the two evils in good faith.\u00a0 Which he acknowledged before.\u00a0 But this time, he puts a name to the choice when he gives it a thumbs up, and that name is Bernie Sanders.\u00a0 Bernie Sanders, a man who doesn\u2019t simply and humbly support one or two intrinsic evils, but one who has made it his career to push zealously the boundaries for multiple sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance, as well as ending this laughable notion that all peoples and religions can be excused from bowing before the secular Left.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I just found it odd.\u00a0 After so many years of the barks and yells about the higher way, when Mark finally chose to be specific about that glaring exception he only hinted at in the past, he did it for a man who exemplifies everything that conservative and traditional believers loathe \u2013 and fear \u2013 from the emergent Left.\u00a0 And Mark does so by saying that apart from the single sin mentioned (abortion) in his piece, Bernie\u2019s policies and ideas are for the greater good, which then cover the multitude of other policy sins.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Take it for what it\u2019s worth.\u00a0 Before I stopped going to Mark\u2019s Facebook page, he still said he\u2019s a conservative at heart.\u00a0\u00a0 Exactly how that works in this context, I can\u2019t begin to say.\u00a0I must have missed something. \u00a0But it makes me worry that such an influential voice in Catholic lay ministries could\u00a0 do such a thing, and how many Catholics will, by extension, follow thorough with the approach. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, it can happen.\u00a0 I freely admit that, using some strange and incompressible logic, a Catholic in good faith could support Sanders and still be a Catholic in good faith.\u00a0 Where we struggle with our pilgrimage in a fallen world, anything can happen.\u00a0 In an election, in a secular nation, forced to choose between flawed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholics for Bernie Sanders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, it can happen.  I freely admit that, using some strange and incompressible logic, a Catholic in good faith could support Sanders and still be a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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