[verga]

Given our form of government and Catholicism’s stated beliefs, I can accept some GOP-nominated Catholics. But without evangelical Christians in America, the country would be like Europe’s twin. More than anything else, the GOP base is evangelical Christian and we should be represented on the SC.

Than you should also understand that here are no formal conservative evangelical churches. With the "decentralized authority" that you all so proudly tout when it is convenient it should be no surprise.

Catholicism has a stated position consistent with Conservatism. Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans all support gay marriage. Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians have women pastors. The list of inconsistencies with the Bible and Conservatism goes on and on...

Individual members may be Conservative to one degree or another, but none of the churches have an enforceable manifesto against abortion, Gay marriage, Euthanasia, etc....< P>You all want the church of "Que sera sera" now live with the consequences.

[BlackElk]

In fairness, most Baptists of Southern Baptist Convention (the big one) do not countenance "gay""marriage" nor do some of the smaller groups of Presbyterians than PC-USA, and there are dissident Anglicans who also hold to the truth and have separated on this and other matters from main line Anglicans here and in England.

I am not certain but I doubt that Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod Lutherans tolerate women pastors (that would be an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America specialty along with abortion justification and other evils). There is or was a quite substantial caucus of United Methodists known as "Good News Methodists" who tended toward orthodox answers to most such issues. I would defer to xzins knowledge and expertise on this since he spent his entire career as a quite conservative Methodist military chaplain. As to Presbyterians other than PC-USA on women pastors, perhaps Alex Murphy can enlighten us. Other Reformed Christians are invited to chime in as are other Catholics. We should all avoid mud-wrestling and theological food fights however.

Your overall point seems sound. Catholicism has a substantial body of defined dogma on these and other matters. I suspect that Reformed Christians would say that Scripture is what unifies their memberships. The problem is that Scripture seems to mean different things to different people which explains the multiplicity of churches and apparent conflicts among local churches. Again, in fairness, we Catholics have problems with local pastors and theologians who delight in wandering from defined dogma into speculation land or into outright heresy.

I do think our Catholic Church institutions do a better job of resisting "Que sera, sera" because of central dogma and institutions like the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

[xzins]

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod does not ordain women. It is today’s only real representative of Lutheranism. I am not Lutheran. I am Methodist. I can more easily make a case for female deacons than for female elders.

[Faith Presses On]

Funny how that goes, since the states with the high Catholic populations are the ones who have empowered and still empower liberal Democrats and their policies, including that most of the first, I’d say if IRC, dozen or so to legalize same-sex marriage are highly Catholic.