# The line between promoting issues and promoting candidates **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-between-promoting-issues-and-promoting-candidates/468657 "2008-10-19T20:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soggy\_Biscuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Soggy\_Biscuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soggy_Biscuit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-between-promoting-issues-and-promoting-candidates/468657/1 "2008-10-19T20:25:54Z")
My church recently passed out a letter that had to do with clarifying how we, as Catholics, are supposed to vote in the upcoming election. It mentions no specific candidates, but makes it very clear that we are not supposed to vote for pro-choice candidates. Here’s some excerpts: (by the way, all bolding and italicization is as it is in the letter, I am not adding anything to this) > [@](#): > > The Church teaches that all Catholics should participate as “faithful citizens” in the public square, especially through our voice in the voting booth, and that we have the responsibility to treat the decision for whom we will vote for with profound moral seriousness. We must approach the right and duty to vote with a _properly formed and informed conscience_ in accordance with the teachings of the Church. Last November, the Bishops of the United States issued a document entitled **Forming Consciences of Faithful Citizenship** , in which we and our brother Bishops issued clear moral guidelines to aid the faithful in proper formation of conscience with regard to the many issues we face in our nation today. Through this joint statement to the faithful of Dallas and Fort Worth, we seek to briefly summarize the key points and dispel any confusion or misunderstanding that may be present among you concerning the teaching contained in the document, especially that which may have arisen from recent public misinterpretation concerning this teaching. > > 1. _Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship_ clearly teaches that not all issues have the same moral equivalence. Some issues involve “intrinsic evils”; that is, they can never under any circumstance or condition be morally justified. Preeminent among these intrinsic evils are legalized abortion, the promotion of same sex unions and “marriages”, repression of religious liberty, as well as public policies permitting euthanasia, racial discrimination or destructive human embryonic stem cell research. I’ll skip ahead, but basically we have quotes from the Pope about how abortion is the taking of innocent life, how 48 million innocent lives have been ended through abortion since Roe vs. Wade, and now it is an intrinsically evil attack on life itself. > [@](#): > > 1. Therefore, we cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion - while not the **“only issue”** - it is the _defining moral issue_, not only today, but of the last 35 years. Essentially, all other issues are secondary in importance to abortion. > [@](#): > > 1. As Catholics we are faced with a number of issues that are of concern and should be addressed, such as immigration reform, healthcare, the economy and its solvency, care and concern for the poor, and the war on terror. As Catholics we must be concerned about these issues and work to see that just solutions are brought about. There are many possible solutions to these issues and there can be reasonable debate among Catholics on how to best approach and solve them. These are matters of “prudential judgment.” _But let us be clear: issues of prudential judgment are not morally equivalent to issues involving intrinsic evils. No matter how right a given candidate is on any of these issues, it does not outweigh a candidate’s unacceptable position in favor of an intrinsic evil such as abortion or the protection of “abortion rights’”_ Now, here’s where we are told how to pick a candidate: > [@](#): > > 1. \*Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, \*in paragraphs 34-37, addresses the question of whether it is morally permissible for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports an \*intrinsic evil[/] - even when the voter does not agree with the candidate’s position on that evil. The **only** moral possibilities for a Catholic to be able to vote in good conscience for a candidate who supports this intrinsic evil are the following: > > a. If both candidates running for office support abortion or “abortion rights,” a Catholic would be forced to then look at the other important issues and through their vote try to **limit the evil** done; or, > > b. If another intrinsic evil outweighs the evil of abortion. While this is sound moral reasoning, _there are no “truly grave moral” or “proportionate” reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year._ > > To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or “abortion rights” when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil - and therefore, morally impermissible. Now, I feel this letter manages to skirt the laws that prohibit churches from endorsing a candidate while keeping their tax-free status, but it seems to be worded specifically to make it clear that voting for a pro-choice candidate is to cooperate with evil, no matter how much the candidate’s other views are superior to his opponent. It’s pretty apparent that this letter is in response to some discussion at our church about whether Obama’s plans to provide health care to millions and end the war in Iraq outweigh his stance on abortion. War has been specifically outlined as a matter of “prudential judgment” and of lesser importance than the intrinsic evil of abortion. The argument that neither candidate has the power to overturn Roe v. Wade is nullified the pragmatists who want to support Obama by saying that voting for him is cooperation with intrinsic evil, regardless of the results. This isn’t going to affect my vote, I guess I’m just a bad Catholic, but there has been a lot of discussion among people in my congregation about this and a lot of people were talking about going for Obama, and I’m afraid this is going to change their minds, and I feel this was the intention of the letter. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-between-promoting-issues-and-promoting-candidates/468657/2 "2008-10-19T21:00:45Z")
That letter misrepresents the views of the Catholic Church. The official view of the Church is that it is permissable for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports a grave evil (such as abortion), so long as that is not the reason the Catholic votes for that candidate. So, for instance, a Catholic who says “I’m voting for Obama because he’s pro-choice” is going against the teachings of the Church, but a Catholic who says “I’m voting for Obama because his policies help the poor”, or “I’m voting for Obama because he will work for peace in the world” is not going against the teachings of the Church ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-between-promoting-issues-and-promoting-candidates/468657/3 "2008-10-19T21:06:52Z")
I wouldn’t belittle your religion so please don’t take this the wrong way. theres a separation of church and state for a reason. I think its wrong for ANY church to try and influence your vote. ---
**Author:** ![Soggy\_Biscuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Soggy\_Biscuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soggy_Biscuit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-line-between-promoting-issues-and-promoting-candidates/468657/4 "2008-10-19T21:10:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That letter misrepresents the views of the Catholic Church. The official view of the Church is that it is permissable for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who supports a grave evil (such as abortion), so long as that is not the reason the Catholic votes for that candidate. So, for instance, a Catholic who says “I’m voting for Obama because he’s pro-choice” is going against the teachings of the Church, but a Catholic who says “I’m voting for Obama because his policies help the poor”, or “I’m voting for Obama because he will work for peace in the world” is not going against the teachings of the Church That was my understanding, as well as that of several other members of my congregation. We felt that we should vote for Obama because his platform, as a whole, fit better with our beliefs about treating all people as equal, providing care for the needy, and avoiding war. I’d say about 3/4 of the people in my church that I have heard discuss politics were leaning towards voting for Obama for these reasons. Obama does not seem to be pro-abortion, and though I am conflicted on the issue and on Roe v. Wade (I think that the constitution may grant privacy rights that restrict laws against abortion, though my heart feels it is wrong, I also feel it is wrong for guns to proliferate but it’s clear the constitution protects their ownership), I think Obama’s policies will probably reduce the number of abortions - but now we are told that if you have two candidates, one that is pro-choice and one who is not, we have to vote against the pro-choice one to avoid cooperation with evil, even if the one that is not pro-choice supports a much more evil agenda.