Catholic Democrats???

Well, a long time ago, the Democratic Party supported immigrants, and 100 years ago, the majority of new immigrants to the United States were Catholic. The Catholic attachment to the Democratic Party remains as sort of a remnant of that era, in spite of the contradictions with the abortion issue. Now, not all Democrats are pro-abortion, and not all Republicans are anti-abortion.

Cary.Melvin said:

Isn't the Democratic party platform on abortion incompatible with Catholic belief?

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You are correct...at best, Democrats who support pro-abortion politions are hypocrites...

NDIrish said:

You are correct...at best, Democrats who support pro-abortion politions are hypocrites...

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And if they receive the Eucharist I pray for them...yikes...I will never vote for anyone that supports this supposed "choice"

I would venture to say that historically, those Catholics vote democrat because of labor unions, etc. Working conditions in the industrial areas were harsh in the late 1800s, early 1900s. The Demoncrats helped change that atmosphere. And yes, the Socialist Democratik Party's platform on abortion is incompatible with Catholic belief. Personally, I wouldn't support someone who advocates the senseless, ruthless slaughter of innocent babies. If I published a dictionary, that would be my defintion of abortion. But I guess I am an extremist when it comes to my view on abortion. I can't say whether someone can or can not be a good Catholic. I'm doing my best not to judge other folks.

For what I've seen, and polls, the vast majority of Catholics are Democrats, not just NE area. Would seem those who are conservative/Republican tend towards being strongly conservative to tradionalist Catholic, especially those who are converts from fundamentalist protestantism tend more conservative and carry over former political convictions. Maybe that is changing because of abortion, but I wonder if many will vote on the basis of being against the war in Iraq over the abortion issue.

Marcia

jukesk9 said:

I would venture to say that historically, those Catholics vote democrat because of labor unions, etc. Working conditions in the industrial areas were harsh in the late 1800s, early 1900s. The Demoncrats helped change that atmosphere. And yes, the Socialist Democratik Party's platform on abortion is incompatible with Catholic belief. Personally, I wouldn't support someone who advocates the senseless, ruthless slaughter of innocent babies. If I published a dictionary, that would be my defintion of abortion. But I guess I am an extremist when it comes to my view on abortion. I can't say whether someone can or can not be a good Catholic. I'm doing my best not to judge other folks.

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That isn't judging anyone, that is telling the truth. Judging would be saying they are going to Hell for it.

Well, then NO--One can NOT be a good Catholic and support abortion. Whew. I said it.

marciadietrich said:

I wonder if many will vote on the basis of being against the war in Iraq over the abortion issue.

Marcia

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My reply to that line of reasoning is this. The war happened. We can't change that. We are there. No Democrat (short of Howard Dean who doesn't have a snowball's chance in the Place of Eternal Fire in winning the nomination) is going to get us out of Iraq anytime soon. We are there for the long haul. Whether one was for the war or not, Saddam and his followers had a choice--innocent babies do not.

It also looks like components of WMDs are now being found in Iraq:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110372,00.html

Wouldn't that have been lovely if some terrorist group would've gotten ahold of this and put it in a water or airborne supply?

Well, it's a choice between two evils, innit? The Republican party supports the death penalty, and that's also against Catholic belief.

Good point -- while Catholics shouldn't support abortion, it doesn't seem to me that they *must* vote for a candidate that also does not support abortion. No matter who you vote for, a candidate is going to have some part of their platform that is against Catholic teaching (unless some day a "Catholic party" candidate runs ).

-Chris

My view on it is that even though no candidate is ideal in the Catholic view. Isn't it our duty to make sure that the killing of millions of babies does not continue. The death penalty, although needs to be changed, is not on the same level as the killing of millions of innocent babies.

How many people were killed last year because of the death penalty? How many people were killed last year because of abortion?

Has Bush ever actually done anything to try to get abortion made illegal?

-Chris

proud2bcatholic said:

My view on it is that even though no candidate is ideal in the Catholic view. Isn't it our duty to make sure that the killing of millions of babies does not continue. The death penalty, although needs to be changed, is not on the same level as the killing of millions of innocent babies.

How many people were killed last year because of the death penalty? How many people were killed last year because of abortion?

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I understand that. But my viewpoint is that the Death Penalty is a State-Sanctioned thing that is done BY the government. Like, if a person gets the death penalty there isn't much we can do except protest, because that person is going to be killed. With abortion, the state isn't passing out sentences to abort babies, it is the individual who does that, and we can do our best to evangelisize, convert, inform, sway, deter, offer different options, etc. Its a tough battle but it can be done.

Also if abortion is made illegal there will still be abortions (albeit significantly fewer), whereas if the death penalty is made illegal there will be no more executions.

-Chris

In this country it's easy. All parties are "pro-choice". Or rather, it is not a political issue here at all. Abortion is available and it's a personal moral choice. No politician is about to abolish abortion and it's not even on the political agenda.

The biggest thing on our political agenda is whether or not our bicultural constitution needs re-working.

We have a parliamentary system with proportional representation. This has meant that one of the parties in the government coalition is the United Future Party, which has a Catholic leader and has broad support from a wide range of Christians. There position in Parliament has allowed them to bring in a 'commission for the family' to look at family-related issues, including tax anomalies that discriminate against stay-at-home parents.

If abortions were illegal, we would save many, many, many, more innocent lifes in one year than would be killed by the death penalty in a 100 years.

Also, by this logic, should we make everyday murder legal, and just leave it up to our efforts to make sure people do not kill one another. This is faulty logic.

kern said:

Has Bush ever actually done anything to try to get abortion made illegal?

-Chris

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Yes, Bush has done some things to prevent abortions. He has signed into law the partial-birth abortion ban bill that Clinton vetoed twice. He has stopped the Clinton's administration policy of using my tax dollars to provide abortions to those in other countries.

If the time comes to appoint new Supreme Court justices, I expect him to appoint a pro-life judge.

What Christians should be doing (and many are) is providing support for women who are contemplating abortion, and help them with the obstacles and problems of single-parenthood or parenthood in poverty.

That is one of the things that christians should be doing, I wholeheartedly agree with that. However, there also needs to be people trying to make changes, and there need to be people praying in front of abortion mills.