Actually, I hate to say it, but they are STILL weaseling.
For instance, there’s this, which echoes earlier statements on this subject: “A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position.”
That’s the hooker.
Yes, racism is a grave evil. But it depends how you define the term. Does it mean that you don’t like blacks, or Jews, or Italians? That’s rather different from building a death camp or hanging people. It’s evil, but not on the scale of killing people.
Moreover, racism is currently defined as a sin that only whites can commit. What about blacks who hate whites? Do the bishops intend to say that you can’t vote for Obama, because he’s a racist? I strongly doubt it.
Furthermore, although the Republican party fought against slavery and mistreatment of blacks for a hundred years, virtually every voter in the country believes that they are anti-black, whereas the Democrats are pro black.
So, for practical purposes, putting abortion on a par with racism means that the Republicans and Democrats are, by definition, equally culpable. So you’d might as well vote for whoevere you like.
This is, of course, total nonsense. Abortion is always abortion, and always involves the intrinsic evil of taking a human life and degrading the dignity of human life. Racism involves a whole spectrum of evils, from mild to extreme. I don’t know ANY politicians on the national scene today who are running as racists, with a platform of reintroducing slavery. But I do know plenty who openly support abortion whenever it’s convenient.
Once again, the Bishops have FAILED to do their job. And you can be sure they will shut up about abortion once again as election day nears.
Notice, too, that the bishops equate abortion and racism a second time in these extracted packages. This was clearly deliberate, and clearly a compromise introduced to satisfy their liberal bias:
“As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.”
So, in othere words, it’s OK to vote for Teddy Kennedy, because his opponent is a Republican and therefore probably a racist.
But still a little bit more positive.
Keep your prayers coming.