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This was written (with one noted exception) right before the presidential election of 2008; hence the many references to President Obama. The moral reasoning remains exactly as valid as it was in 2008.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
My wife has a good friend who is inexplicably voting for Obama. For a Catholic to do that is absolutely against Catholic moral principles. For a morally conservative evangelical Protestant (my wife\u2019s friend) to do so is also against their own ostensible principles (assuming there is any attempt to consciously be consistent and principled).<\/p>\n
How does one explain or deal with these things? Here is how I do it, because if I didn\u2019t have some explanation I would go absolutely nuts too, dealing with it (I\u2019m not an overly emotional type, but I am very passionate indeed about principles and ideals and consistency, and moral reform of society):<\/p>\n
1) Failure to integrate faith into a consistent view of all of life, and compartmentalization of religion and other aspects of life.<\/span><\/p>\n Thus, people (even good, committed Catholics and other Christians) don\u2019t seem to see a connection between what their faith holds and how they apply it to life, or politics in particular. They also compartmentalize economics from religion and faith. If they think one candidate will help the economy, then they\u2019ll vote for them, no matter what he thinks on the pro-life issue. In effect, money becomes more important than human life. But they don\u2019t think of it in those terms, because they never get that\u00a0deep<\/i>\u00a0in reflecting upon it. They\u2019re simply operating on the basis of the notions above.<\/p>\n 2) Antipathy to one individual incumbent or candidate causes them to vote for the other guy, no matter what he believes, or how it violates Christian \/ Catholic principles.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a variation of #1. The basis of this decision is not moral principle, but more so a matter of taste or style. One chooses a President in the same way that they choose a dress or suit coat, or a flavor of ice cream, or style of living room. Obama has a certain appeal or charisma or he\u2019s good-looking, etc. That\u2019s enough. The pro-life cause be damned (which they are not consciously thinking, but it is the effect nonetheless).<\/p>\n 3) The counsel of despair.<\/span><\/p>\n Pro-life can\u2019t prevail anyway (abortion has been legal for 35 years), so why even\u00a0bother<\/i>\u00a0anymore? Therefore, we\u2019ll vote for the guy who isn\u2019t pro-life, but has some other good ideas.<\/p>\n 4) Denial of the reality of pro-life gains.<\/span><\/p>\n President Bush and the Republicans in Congress have done nothing, etc. Poppycock. Bush signed bills prohibiting partial-birth abortion (infanticide) and put in two great pro-life Justices onto the Supreme Court (Roberts and Alito). But let\u2019s deny all that and pretend that nothing is any different with a Democratic President, who will put in ultra-liberal Justices and hundreds of other lesser judges who want to make law rather than interpret it, and who believe in a goofy progressivist legal philosophy, whereby the Constitution can change according to present whims and fashions. The Supreme Court now has four solid pro-life Justices (Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Scalia). Justice Kennedy sometimes votes against extreme pro-abortion practices (e.g., partial-birth infanticide). Justice Stevens is 88 years old. If he retires and a pro-life Justice is appointed, then the Justices are 5-4 pro-life. If a second liberal Justice retires or dies, then it\u2019ll be 6-3 pro-life, assuming McCain picks a good pro-lifer (and that he or she doesn\u2019t flip-flop like Kennedy mostly did). That is the stakes of this election. But throw all that out the window, because Obama is more appealing than McCain and the economy is struggling? . . . Let\u2019s snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after 35 years of solid pro-life activism . . .<\/p>\n 5) Buying the pro-abortion lie of \u201cimposing my values . . .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The propaganda of the last 40 years would have us believe that life of the preborn child is not something that society should protect, and that to think so is unduly imposing personal opinions on a society. Funny, then, that the same people think it is fine and dandy that homosexual values can be forced upon everyone, on pain of charges of extreme intolerance. Thus, any sexual practice is fair game, while human life is simply a \u201cpersonal issue.\u201d<\/p>\n 6) Religion has nothing to do with society.<\/span><\/p>\n Variation of #1. This buys the secularist lie that religion is merely a private affair. So if anyone expresses a religious view in the larger society, it is a naughty no-no, according to what our secularist overlords (who run education, academia, the media, the entertainment industry, etc.) want us to believe and how we should behave. Just keep it in the church . . .<\/p>\n 7) The one-issue voter canard.<\/span><\/p>\n This is utterly ridiculous, but not given to short summary. The war in Iraq is often brought in here, as a supposed \u201cequivalence\u201d issue to abortion. But of course, there is no equivalence. Wars can be argued pro and con, but abortion goes on day in and day out. Every day in America about 4000 babies are butchered (about the amount of all casualties in the present war). Abortion is intrinsically immoral, while any given war (like any instance of capital punishment, or police use of force) may be justified or not. Abortion is a deal-breaker. Anyone who favors it accepts things that are absolutely incompatible with Christian, biblical morality.<\/p>\n 8) Acceptance of the pessimistic view that a Christian cannot positively affect government and society.<\/span><\/p>\n The government is too far gone and cannot be Christianised anyway. This is a variant of #3 and the flip-side of #6. We can\u2019t do anything about an inevitable increasing secularization, so who cares who we vote for? Put in the \u201cnew guy.\u201d<\/p>\n 9) The two parties are exactly the same anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n Variant of #4. The person who thinks like this, or who adopts a \u201cthird-party\u201d \/ libertarian approach, is operating outside of the practical reality of politics. The fact is, that there are major differences between the parties. Republicans aren\u2019t perfect, by any means, and are increasingly influenced by secularism and libertarianism themselves, but to not see any major differences is really dull thinking (to put it mildly).<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n [the original #10 applied only to the situation in 2008 (first black President), so I will add two of my central arguments along these lines (written on 9-28-20) that are never ever<\/em> dealt with by \u201cnew pro-lifers\u201d \/ Catholic Democrats. So this section isn\u2019t a reason why leftist pro-lifers vote for pro-aborts, but rather, why they shouldn\u2019t<\/em>.]<\/p>\n Would a \u201cnew pro-life\u201d Catholic vote for a Klansman who thought it was fine and dandy to kill black people; thought slavery and Jim Crow were great, etc.? This fact in and of itself would not immediately disqualify the candidate?\u00a0That<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is the strength and force of the analogy. I say that no one not insane would do so. And if they wouldn\u2019t do that, I don\u2019t see why they think they could vote for a Democrat childkilling advocate. There is\u00a0zero<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0ethical difference.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The following are brief exchanges on the CHNI forum with a Christian (possibly soon a Catholic) who\u00a0did\u00a0vote for Obama. I had written, in another recent paper:<\/p>\n The lousy catechesis, due to the modernist, liberal crisis in the Church in the last 50 years, has decimated catechetics, evangelism, and apologetics. Catholic schools were taken over by the liberals, so that Catholics got an education almost as secularized and stripped of distinctive Catholic elements, as the public schools were offering. So all those Catholics, if they didn\u2019t make any individual effort otherwise, came out as good liberals, devoid of a Catholic identity and worldview (so that half of them at the moment see no incredible disconnect in voting for Obama, and see no conflict between that act and the moral and social principles of their faith).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The briefest clarification is to say that no Christian can vote to sanction childkilling, by voting for a person who will promote and sustain it (when there is a clear pro-life alternative, as there is in this election).<\/p>\n I know there are conservative Christians in both camps (RC and Protestant) who will vote for Obama rather than McCain in the upcoming election.<\/span><\/p>\n Of course. And they have insufficiently harmonized their faith with their vote. Someone disagrees? Let them come present their case. I say that they have none.<\/p>\n Just how far should our personal \u201cfaith\u201d beliefs (e.g. pro life) bleed into the secular world in which we live and affect the decisions that have to be made in that realm?<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus is Lord of all of life. There is no part of life that our faith shouldn\u2019t affect, for the Christian. Otherwise, we are making idols of those parts of life that we try to deliberately separate from our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and Transformer of Culture (lots of people do this regarding\u00a0sexual\u00a0<\/i>issues, of course).<\/p>\n What does this all mean for Roman Catholics going to the polls \u2013 particularly those tired of the issues associated with the Bush Administration and Republican leadership as a whole?<\/span><\/p>\n It means that the choice is clear: no traditional Christian who accepts traditional Christian morality can sensibly, consistently vote for Obama, since there is a solid pro-life alternative in McCain. Abortion is the leading issue of our time, by far.<\/p>\n Why should any pro-lifer or Christian vote for a rabidly pro-abortion candidate? How can they justify voting for a man who thought children born alive after botched abortions, should be killed (this is a matter of record), and who agrees with partial-birth abortion (also a matter of voting record), where a child is delivered (head only), then has his or her skull pierced by scissors, and brains sucked out? Would YOU vote for such a person who believes these things, gillert? What is so difficult to\u00a0understand<\/i>\u00a0about this (all of you out there who want to vote for Obama)?<\/p>\n Those who vote for people who support such abominations have blood on their hands and will stand accountable. Legal abortion exists in America mainly because we Christians have been compromised and a bunch of wimps, that we let it stand without doing anything about it. Voting is the most painless way we can use to end legal abortion, but we can\u2019t even do that, because so many of us vote for things we don\u2019t even believe in ourselves. Lord help us.<\/p>\n So are you saying \u2013 Dave A. \u2013 the only election issue that a Christian need worry about is abortion\/pro-life?<\/span><\/p>\n McCain is divorced and remarried and not a Roman Catholic. Rudy Giuliani is a Roman Catholic and is divorced (not certain if he remarried). Both are Republicans and both are pro life \u2013 yet from a Roman Catholic perspective they have a sinful record. Is the voting Christian then to dismiss one sin simply in favor of a pro life stance?<\/span><\/p>\n George Bush is an evangelical, pro life Christian \u2013 but his social policies leave a good Roman Catholic and some evangelical Christians wanting. By and large \u2013 Republicans are pro-life but lack greatly in the area of social justice and welfare \u2013 two things which are very important in Roman Catholic teaching. How does the Roman Catholic voter reconcile these issues?<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll come clean \u2013 I voted for Obama \u2013 and I struggled greatly over the decision \u2013 as I consider myself to be a conservative, pro-life Christian \u2013 but when I considered the other candidate and his questionable moral background \u2013 not to mention his desire to continue the social administration (or lack thereof) of George Bush \u2013 I found him to not compare to the other. Obama seems to be addressing the great social needs of the U.S. \u2013 he seems prepared to improve the U.S.\u2019s international image \u2013 he seems able to help solve the most pressing issues facing the country \u2013 even if he is not pro-life.<\/span><\/p>\n Also \u2013 how has the government changed anything over the years for those of us in the pro life camp? Year after year Republicans with a pro life record are elected and year after year they fail to make abortion (under most or all circumstances) illegal. Wouldn\u2019t it be better to vote for a politician who seems to be best prepared to deal with the issues at hand \u2013 even if he or she is pro choice \u2013 while putting resources into the local level \u2013 on a person to person level \u2013 trying to get women to make decisions about life that are most in line with what God wants?<\/span><\/p>\n It seems largely naive and compartmentalized when only one issue drives the ethos of the Christian vote when there are so many other issues that are very important to God. If I become a Roman Catholic again \u2013 must I vote pro life or face a mortal sin? Does the RCC allow abortion in any\/some circumstances?<\/span><\/p>\n Go ahead Dave\u2026.slaughter me\u2026..I\u2019m ready\u2026\u2026\u00a0!<\/span><\/p>\n So what about the social issues that are largely ignored by Republican candidates?<\/span><\/p>\n Where does it Scripturally tell us that a pro life stance is to be held above all other moral and social commands of God?<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve thoroughly dealt with all this fallacious moral reasoning in justification of voting for childkillers in many papers: some mentioned above (especially the \u201cone-issue\u201d one), and others, listed on my Life Issues page. I\u2019m not gonna go over old ground (in terms of what I have already argued at length). If someone truly wants to grapple with the critique of this \u201cde facto pro-abortion position\u201d then they can read those papers. Such a vote cannot be justified on Catholic principles, as is increasingly being stated with more and more forcefulness by Catholic bishops.<\/p>\n Millions of Christians who say they are pro-life will vote for Obama, while the oldest liberal Justice on the Supreme Court (John Paul Stevens) is 88 years old. If Christian pro-lifers would simply vote consistently with their stated beliefs, we would have a great chance to put in a pro-lifer, which would make the Court 5-4 solidly in favor of life (and Kennedy a swing vote on some extreme abortion laws), for the first time since abortion was legalized.<\/p>\n Instead, Obama will put in a fervent pro-abortionist who will sit on the court for 20-30 years. That is one major thing that is at stake in this election. I always reiterate that legal abortion is here primarily because Christians (and particularly Catholics) have insufficiently incorporated their faith into their lives, with regard to how they vote. They talk pro-life but vote for the guy who favors childkilling (they don\u2019t \u201cwalk the walk\u201d), and this is the reason it continues: good people who do nothing about it because of this absurd disconnect of their rhetoric and their act of voting.<\/p>\n God is watching . . . there will be a ton of reckoning on Judgment Day over this issue.<\/p>\n I made the following reply to a letter from a Catholic pro-lifer who is seriously considering voting for Obama:<\/p>\n Hi [name],<\/p>\n Thanks for your letter and for giving me a chance to express my opinion on this gravely important matter.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say that it is impossible for an orthodox Catholic to justify a vote for Obama. The factors that have reduced abortions would continue just as much under McCain, because many people agree about those things (that less abortions are better; adoption is preferable; more informed choices, etc.). Therefore, if the two candidates are arguably equal in their effect on that plane, it stands to reason that a pro-lifer should support the man who thinks Roe was bad law and who would put pro-life Justices on the Supreme Court. The stakes are very high.<\/p>\n If a person like you votes for Obama, in effect you are sanctioning his approval of things like FOCA, killing a child who was intended to be aborted and survived, partial-birth abortion, etc. It is those positive evils that you are also supporting; not just an overall scenario that you feel will reduce abortions. A Catholic cannot support a thing that is intrinsically evil, and candidates who favor these evils, and you\u2019ll be doing that with Obama, but not with McCain.<\/p>\n Please seriously consider your vote in this regard. I hope I have been able to persuade you to continue to vote for the pro-life candidate, and to not be taken in by fallacious reasoning that a so-called pro-choice candidate will cause less abortions than a pro-life candidate.<\/p>\n The likelihood is that things will stay pretty much the same no matter who is elected (because the evil is so entrenched in society and law and the public is radically divided), but that is beside the present point, which is one of civic duty from a Catholic perspective, and moral principle, in line with Catholic teaching. Moral principles are not circumstance-relative.<\/p>\n \u201cLessen Evil\u201d Votes for Hillary?\u00a0<\/a>(vs. Mark Shea) [4-7-17]<\/p>\n Debate: Do Liberal Social Policies Lessen Abortion & Poverty?<\/a>\u00a0[4-12-17]<\/p>\n Simcha Fisher\u2019s \u201cNew\u201d Pro-Life Critique of \u201cOld\u201d Pro-Lifers\u00a0<\/a>[Simcha\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0vote for Hillary Clinton] (+ vigorous\u00a0Facebook discussion<\/a>) [8-2-17]<\/p>\n Are \u201cOld\u201d Pro-Lifers Racists & \u201cAnti-Woman\u201d?<\/a>\u00a0(vs. John Cavanaugh-O\u2019Keefe) [8-30-17]<\/p>\n \u201cNew\u201d vs. \u201cOld\u201d Pro-Life Strategies<\/a>\u00a0(vs. John Cavanaugh-O\u2019Keefe) [8-31-17]<\/p>\n Left-Wing \u201cNew Pro-Lifers\u201d Are Also Pro-Life (DUH!)<\/a>\u00a0[9-20-17]<\/p>\n On Being a So-Called \u201cSingle-Issue\u201d Pro-Lifer\u00a0<\/a>[National Catholic Register<\/em>, 1-25-18]<\/p>\n Do Democratic Presidents Cause Fewer Abortions to Occur?<\/a>\u00a0[National Catholic Register<\/em>, 2-28-18]<\/p>\n Ratzinger\u2019s \u201cProportionate Reasons\u201d & a Pro-Abort Vote<\/a>\u00a0[11-6-18]<\/p>\n Debate: SCOTUS & GOP in Relation to Abortion Rates<\/a>\u00a0[11-15-18]<\/p>\n Dialogue on Conservative vs. Liberal Pro-Life Voting<\/a>\u00a0[2-9-19]<\/p>\n Explaining the Pro-Life, Christian Vote for Trump Yet Again<\/a>\u00a0[4-30-19]<\/p>\n Dialogue: Christian Witness, Trump, & Prudential Voting\u00a0<\/a>(vs. Deacon Steven D. Greydanus) [5-10-19]<\/p>\n Abortion Declines Under Trump (Surprise, New Pro-Lifers!)<\/a>\u00a0[1-10-20]<\/p>\nA) Perhaps someone (a liberal \/ \u201cnew pro-life\u201d Catholic) can answer my recent (still unanswered query): would you vote for a KKK Imperial Wizard, overlooking the fact that he favored the lynching of black people, since he has\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0positions you like, and you\u2019re not really voting for the killing?\u00a0I don\u2019t see any ethical difference at all:\u00a0none<\/em><\/strong>. In this case, the analogy to KKK racism and murder is perfectly valid.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n\n\nB) Does it bother the pro-life Democrat that he or she votes for the very people that Planned Parenthood, NOW, etc., firmly believe are the ones that will further their abortion agenda? Do you really think they [those two radically pro-abort groups] are so stupid as to not know which candidate will promote their agenda?<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n\n\nThey\u2019re voting Democrat in order to maintain and increase<\/em> abortions. The \u201cnew pro-lifer\u201d \/ pro-life Democrat votes for the same people with the illusion that they will lower<\/em> the numbers of abortions. Something has to give there. I think they are correct. There was a reason Hillary Clinton was given the \u201cChampion of the Century\u201d award by Planned Parenthood.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat do you mean by this statement Dave A. Can you briefly clarify?<\/q><\/span><\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t mean to get too political on the forum \u2013 just looking for some good ol\u2019, down home clarification.<\/q><\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/a>Bottom line (I would say) is that a Catholic can\u2019t justify (on essentially utilitarian or pragmatic grounds) a vote for a pro-abortion political candidate when a pro-life candidate is available, because abortion is intrinsically evil in a way that war, etc., is not. It\u2019s a non-negotiable and a deal-breaker. It\u2019s true that abortions have declined in recent years, but that is certainly not because of the policies that have been pursued by pro-abortion Democrats and Republicans who agree with them. It is because of things like abstinence education, sensible alternatives (adoption; crisis pregnancy centers) and because of ceaseless pro-life activism.<\/p>\nRelated Reading<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n*<\/div>\nChristians Voting for Pro-Aborts?!?!<\/a>\u00a0[4-4-04]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nReply to Democrats for Life<\/a>\u00a0[5-1-12]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nOn the Complaint that Pro-Lifers are \u201cSingle-Issue\u201d<\/a>\u00a0[9-24-15]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nOn Trump & the \u201cSupreme\u201d Pro-Life Cause<\/a>\u00a0[8-16-16]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nReply to \u201cLeft-Wing\u201d Pro-Lifers (Crisis Pregnancy Centers, the Supreme Court, and \u201cOld\u201d Pro-Life Efforts to Help Struggling Pregnant Women)\u00a0<\/a>[10-24-16]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nDialogue with Deacon Steven Greydanus on Voting & Pro-Life<\/a>\u00a0[11-8-16]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n