We've got it covered, dude.
Absurd in terms of how the church deals with its members, yes. But there are implications here that people may be missing. JFK made a big deal that he was not "ruled from Rome," which was a concern at the time. For many years after, it was not a big issue with voters; recall that George Romney's Mormonism was not an issue in his campaign.
However, if the argument is that the Catholic Church will deny communion to any politician that does not legislate or execute laws according to Catholic doctrine, many voters will be concerned about voting for Catholics. Much of the non-Catholic public won't understand or believe that it will only apply to a few key issues, they'll see it as the Pope dictating American political postions. They could be influenced to believe that a Catholic politican will support the "Catholic position" on everything. At one time this was what many believed in the US, and it might not take much to return to those days.
Short term, this may affect issues that you care about. Long term, it may mean Catholics will have more difficulty getting elected. And what happens when a different Pope emphasizes a different part of Catholic theology - how to deal with immigrants or the poor, for instance?
Ok, flame away, but I think people haven't really looked ahead to the potential political issues.
The Catholic politicians are Catholic by their own choice. The Pope did not force them to become Catholic. They are free to leave the church — that is, ex-communicate themselves — and find some other religion or system of beliefs that can rationalize the murder of the unborn.
The backlash against JFK had more to do with anti-Catholicism among Protestants than a concern for religion dictating politics. GW has gotten the same criticism for being a Christian by non-Christians. It’s a ridiculous criticism for any religious politician.
I have lived through 75 years of “political issues” but nothing has changed except blatant amoral moral issues. I still face death and pay taxes.
What has happened is that the murder of innocents has been tucked into a neat corner that shows as a political issue. It is no where near a political issue. It is a moral issue.
Even non believers support anti abortion. It is a matter of conscience and a “good” developed conscience would be to support pro life. It is easy to see where the “Washington Conscience” is. It certainly is not “good”.
In my daily excursion into the Pro-Life movement most religious denominations have an anti abortion rule in their doctrines. The problem is, except for the Catholic Church, the other denomination’s clergy are lukewarm to cold on support of anti abortion.
Doesn’t St. Paul and the Apocalypse speak of “lukewarmness”?
Scripture tells it like it is.
As long as we have people who have sinful natures, we will have abortion as a moral issue that is put on the back burner of the political stove.
We've got it covered, dude.
Especially if you help spread such lies.