{"id":2435,"date":"2012-01-27T09:53:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T09:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/a-christian-alternative-to-americas-broken-political-duopoly.html"},"modified":"2012-01-27T09:53:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T09:53:00","slug":"a-christian-alternative-to-americas-broken-political-duopoly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/a-christian-alternative-to-americas-broken-political-duopoly.html","title":{"rendered":"A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE TO AMERICA’S BROKEN POLITICAL DUOPOLY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Michael Stafford
ABC Religion and Ethics<\/p>\n

In his book Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Charles Chaput notes that neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties are comfortable political homes for American Catholics. His insight is correct and applies to all Christians who take their faith\u2019s public policy implications seriously.<\/p>\n

Indeed, today the Republican and Democratic parties are not merely uncomfortable, imperfect, homes for people of faith; they are prisons that artificially divide us and prevent us from coming together as a community to advance the common good.<\/p>\n

The Republican Party portrays itself as the political home for people of faith \u2013 in its imagery, the Bible and the flag often go hand-in-hand. The GOP is also, ostensibly, America\u2019s \u201cpro-life\u201d party. And given the primacy of the abortion issue for many Christians, it\u2019s not surprising that it has attracted the support of large numbers of evangelicals and conservative Catholic voters.<\/p>\n

However, the policies advocated by the Republican Party today, and the ideology animating them, do not comport with Christian teaching on a range of issues. Its support for torture as an interrogation technique, capital punishment as a criminal penal sanction, and the dehumanizing rhetoric it directs towards immigrants, for example, do not reflect a Christian vision of the world.
Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Michael StaffordABC Religion and Ethics In his book Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Charles Chaput notes that neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties are comfortable political homes for American Catholics. His insight is correct and applies to all Christians who take their faith\u2019s public policy implications seriously. Indeed, today the Republican and Democratic parties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE TO AMERICA'S BROKEN POLITICAL DUOPOLY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Michael StaffordABC Religion and EthicsIn his book Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Charles Chaput notes that neither the Republican nor the Democratic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/a-christian-alternative-to-americas-broken-political-duopoly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE TO AMERICA'S BROKEN POLITICAL DUOPOLY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Michael StaffordABC Religion and EthicsIn his book Render Unto Caesar, Archbishop Charles Chaput notes that neither the Republican nor the Democratic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/a-christian-alternative-to-americas-broken-political-duopoly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-27T09:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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