Voting Your Faith and Values as a Citizen

 

Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

I talked about the dangers of single-issue voting in my post on Sunday. To run with one issue to the exclusion of all others has resulted in many miscarriages of justice. For those who may not be familiar with the breadth of Catholic Social teaching, I have taken the following themes from the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. There follows a comparison with the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and euthanasia. The value of human life is being threatened by cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the use of the death penalty. The intentional targeting of civilians in war or terrorist attacks is always wrong. Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to avoid war. Nations must protect the right to life by finding increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve them by peaceful means. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

Call to Family, Community, and Participation

The person is not only sacred but also social. How we organize our society -- in economics and politics, in law and policy -- directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. Marriage and the family are the central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Rights and Responsibilities

The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities--to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.

The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.

Solidarity

We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that if you want peace, work for justice.1 The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.

Care for God's Creation

We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.

A View from A Different Perspective

As a comparison, here is the witness from a different faith perspective, on the other end of the spectrum, so to speak:

The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalists Association found on the UnitarianUniversalists Association website:

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which we hold as strong values and moral guides. We live out these Principles within a “living tradition” of wisdom and spirituality, drawn from sources as diverse as science, poetry, scripture, and personal experience.

As Rev. Barbara Wells ten Hove explains, “The Principles are not dogma or doctrine, but rather a guide for those of us who choose to join and participate in Unitarian Universalist religious communities.”

1.      1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

2.     2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

3.     3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

4.    4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

5.     5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

6.    6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

7.     7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

*   *   *   *

Most faith traditions have a holistic vision for a fair and equitable society. When you go to the polls to vote, consider how to best implement your values and hopes for a better world.

-

The Perils of Single-Issue Voting

 In January of 2018, in an essay on The State of Our Nation, I wrote:

I understand that each person must make his or her own moral choice in civic matters when going to the polls. Unfortunately, voting on the single issue of abortion blinds many to the wider issues at stake…Through the years, I have seen my fellow Catholics vote for people who have no knowledge of, or interest in, Catholic social teaching and whose agendas are even counter to that teaching. The best way to support life is in our teaching, values, and actions. We can abide by the law of the land and still uphold our faith values without thinking we have to reverse legislation in order to live a moral life.

Recently I found this editorial cartoon* that succinctly illustrates what I was trying to say: 

Brian McLaren recently wrote about the origins of the Pro-Life Movement in "A Letter to my White Christian Pro-Life Friends, Part 2, My Misgivings." McLaren writes about how Randall Balmer’s Thy Kingdom Come (Basic Books, 2006) helped him understand the movement’s backstory:

In short, in the 1950’s and 60’s, reacting to school desegregation and civil rights legislation, large numbers of white Protestants and Catholics in both the South and the North transferred their children from integrated public schools to all-white private church-based schools. (These schools are often referred to as “segregation academies.”) During Jimmy Carter’s administration (1977-1981), a rumor spread that the government would soon remove tax exempt status from these segregated schools. Protestant and Catholic leaders came together in a series of conference calls to strategize how to defend their tax-exempt status while remaining racially segregated.

This created an opportunity that a fundraiser and conservative activist, Paul Weyrich, seized. A conservative Christian coalition couldn’t be based on overt segregation and the white supremacy that fueled it, he knew, so Weyrich convinced Protestants to rally with Catholics under the banner of opposing abortion to protect their tax-exempt status.

 Prior to reading McLaren’s article, I had seen the Pro-Life Movement, with their holding Roe v Wade above all other political considerations, as a group of people who are being misled. I saw many of the people, and even some of the leaders, being manipulated by politicians who primarily seek political power and give little more than lip service to morality. What I had not realized was the racial prejudice that helped fuel the beginning of the movement in the first place. Indeed, America’s original sin of slavery/white supremacy continues to influence our lifestyles, our values, and our choices.

________________________

*The editorial cartoon originated on Facebook:

Tim Troxler

sOcttobeSnpSoern gms2m4locah,rfeo m2o0d16hc  · 

"A pro-life friend made his own political cartoon which I think is a thought-provoking look at numerous election issues that are often glossed over for the sake of a pro-life platform."