Catholic Bishops: Voting for Kerry is a Sin requiring Confession

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by our_man
What I can't understand is why the Catholic Church in America is so vocal in condemning Kerry's pro-abortion stance, yet seems to ignore the pro-death penalty attitudes of Bush and co. They're both murder after all - what's the difference?

Check your cathecism. The Death Penalty is much the same as war in Catholic teaching. It's something the Bishops have given an interpretation of fact that no cases today meet the criteria for it, but like war it's still something the State has a right to do, unlike Abortion which is never acceptable and the state must forbid consistent with it's duty to protect innocents.

[Thucydides]

searching the web for something on the subject I came up with this

From the founding of the country until 1954, churches and other nonprofit organizations were permitted to expressly endorse or oppose candidates for political office. That changed when Lyndon Baines Johnson ran for United States Senate. He was opposed by a nonprofit organization (not a church), and after he won the election, he proposed legislation to amend the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit nonprofit organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The Code was amended in 1954 without any debate regarding the impact of the bill.

The Internal Revenue Code now expressly prohibits churches and other nonprofit organizations from directly endorsing or opposing political candidates. From 1954 to the present, only one church has ever lost its IRS tax-exempt letter ruling, but even that church did not lose its tax-exempt status for opposing then-Governor Bill Clinton for President in 1992.

which was found at the webpage below

http://www.lc.org/Resources/pastors_churches_politics.htm

It looks like for the most part the IRS doesn't really enforce the rule, but if a church pushes it too far they can lose their tax-exempt status.

[Proteus_MST]

Maybe some Bishops secretly hope that
through Bush they could gain more Influence on the Government

[MikeH]

Bad as this is I can't see any politician commiting political suicide by going to war against the catholic church.

[DanS]

In the US, it wouldn't be a smart political move. However, I doubt Kerry loses much, if anything, by having his stance on abortion and being catholic. (He loses by his stance on abortion and by being catholic, but it would be best to treat the issues separately.)

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by MalevolentLight
Yes, he should talk about the hispanics, and about ways to send them back to Mexico.

Seems a bit harsh on all those born in the U.S.A. , or from Guatemala, or Honduras, or Belize.....

Still, good to see such a caring, Christian attitude from you. You aren't by any chance of Samaritan descent, are you?

[Drachasor]

Something to bear in mind is that not all Catholics are even going to listen to this guy. In fact, if the Catholic Church in general endorsed Bush, they might lose a lot of support from their flock.

Take Austria for example, they have an extremely high percentage of Catholics (over 80%, I believe), yet the vast majority of people are pro-choice. They simply take everything the Vatican says with a grain of salt now.

-Drachasor

[MikeH]

Originally posted by MalevolentLight
Yes, he should talk about the hispanics, and about ways to send them back to Mexico.

Or talk about the white man and how to send them back to Europe.

[alva]

Originally posted by MikeH


Or talk about the white man and how to send them back to Europe.

They simply take everything the Vatican says with a grain of salt now.

Except for the south mediterean country's, I think the pope has very little influence, if any at all.

[Arrian]

"Let me please introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth, and taste..."

FU Religionistas!

-Arrian

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Interesting, so voting for a candidate who would accept the termination of unborn life gets you two 'Our Fathers' and a 'Holy Mary'. What does voting for a candidate who goes to war on false pretences get you?

I dunno, but I know the Catholic Church was against Iraq and doesn't like Bush.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Ming
How is this different than a group like "labor" supporting Kerry... The church has legitimate reasons why they would like to see Bush get reelected. I'm surprised they didn't go all the way and command catholics to vote for Bush.

Except for the whole thing about not supporting Bush?

Abortion is pretty much the only issue where Bush and the Church coincide.

[lord of the mark]

i dont know about confession and all that, not being RC, but i think i'll be in need of a cleansing ritual of some kind after leaving the voting booth, whichever way I vote.

[GePap]

You can always do a write in.

[chequita guevara]

Catholic bishops have a right to their opinion.