{"id":114096,"date":"2019-11-08T00:52:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T07:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=114096"},"modified":"2019-11-08T08:17:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T15:17:39","slug":"ill-give-this-to-libertarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/11\/ill-give-this-to-libertarians.html","title":{"rendered":"I’ll give this to Libertarians…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Unlike an awful lot of \u201cprolife\u201d Catholics and other conservative white Christians, they are on the front lines when it comes to abolishing the death penalty, rather than fighting for this barbarity even against Holy Church herself.<\/p>\n

Here, for instance, is a statement<\/a> from Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty<\/a> (a nationwide group of conservatives questioning whether capital punishment is consistent with conservative principles and values due to the system\u2019s inefficiency, inequity, and inaccuracy. Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is a project of Equal Justice USA, a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization working to transform the justice system by promoting responses to violence that break cycles of trauma):<\/p>\n

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Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty<\/strong><\/p>\n
We have come to the conclusion that the death penalty does not work and can\u2019t be made to work, not in spite of our conservative principles, but because of them. There are many reasons why growing numbers of conservatives are questioning the death penalty. Some of us are concerned that instead of making us safer, capital punishment has proven to be a costly and ineffective government program. Others of us are concerned that the death penalty makes too many mistakes. Still others are concerned that the death penalty has no place in a culture seeking to promote life. In light of its track record, we call on our fellow conservatives to reexamine the death penalty and demonstrate the leadership needed to end this failed policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Significantly, and shamefully, of the 250 signatories to this statement, a mere six self-identify as \u201cprolife\u201d while 118 signatories identify as associated with Libertarian or Libertarian-related organizations (and that does not include Libertarian icon Ron Paul, who self-identifies as Republican).\u00a0 I suspect many more Libertarians are on the list in association with other organizations.<\/p>\n
Nobody, nada, not one single conservative among the signatories identifies as Catholic and opposed to the death penalty (though there may be some Catholics among them).<\/p>\n
The reason for this glaring absence is not far to seek.\u00a0 Just as they battled the Church tooth and claw to justify torture a decade ago and formed the leading theological shock troops for making war on the clear teaching of the Church in total defiance of the Magisterium, so conservative Catholics have tended to likewise make a name for themselves by their dogged advocacy of the death penalty in defiance of the Church, like this:<\/p>\n
$\"By$ <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Mark, you have to admit that opposition to the death penalty is a not a de fide<\/em> teaching.\u00a0 So Catholics are free to ignore the pope on this as on all non-dogmatic teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
No.\u00a0 They are not.\u00a0 Prudential judgment is not Catholicese for \u201cFeel free to make war on the authoritative teaching of Holy Church.\u201d\u00a0 And this is doubly true for conservative Catholics who have proven themselves so wrong about so much so many times for so long that their massive case of Dunning-Kruger Syndrome blinds them to the fact that only a complete and utter fool would trust their prudence over that of the Magisterium\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n
Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place. For bishops are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice, and by the light of the Holy Spirit illustrate that faith. They bring forth from the treasury of Revelation new things and old, making it bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock. Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. (Lumen Gentium<\/em> 25<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In short, unless you can show a damn<\/em> good reason why you think it is absolutely necessary to fight the Holy Father so that you can\u00a0kill innocent people<\/a> in order to unnecessarily kill the guilty, then you should just be quiet.<\/p>\n
This is quadruply true if you have spent the past fifteen years lecturing everybody on the need to \u201cfocus on the non-negotiables like abortion\u201d while in fact focusing on making war on the Church for the Right Wing Culture of Death. You should listen to your own advice and try channeling that energy you used to devote to torture advocacy and currently devote to death penalty advocacy into actually defending the unborn. Don\u2019t be like William Barr, Opus Dei Celebrity Folk Hero, and pretend that you are making war on the Church\u2019s teaching in order to \u201cuphold Real Catholic faith\u201d:<\/p>\n
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Barr: We must execute this man for the victims.<\/p>\n
Victim 1: Don\u2019t want this.
\nVictim 2: I\u2019ve petitioned Trump to prevent this.
\nProsecutor: Don\u2019t want this.
\nJudge: I\u2019ve regretted this forever.<\/p>\n
Barr: For. The. Victims.https:\/\/t.co\/vhpk2aE5Xu<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/W4ysOPfkCx<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) October 30, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n