The Single-Issue Trap

[meow2u3]

In 2007 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, a guide for American Catholics seeking to discern their political responsibilities in view of the upcoming 2008 national elections. In 2011 the bishops reissued the same document for the 2012 elections, along with a new introductory note. Though no one doubts that the ballots cast by Roman Catholics are a key factor in national elections, it’s unclear what impact the bishops’ guide has on that vote. A 2011 poll suggests that only a small minority of American Catholics consulted Forming Consciences before the 2008 election. Nonetheless, journalists, politicians, political strategists, and political scientists take the document seriously, viewing it as a significant intervention in American political life made by the religious leaders of a powerful segment of voters.

How should Forming Consciences and other voting guides issued by the bishops over the years be understood? What, exactly, is their purpose? The guides do not endorse any candidate or list of candidates—indeed, they can’t without the USCCB losing its tax-exempt status. Yet clearly the bishops intend to influence Catholic voters by shaping their consciences in accordance with Catholic teaching. Furthermore, while the voting guides acknowledge the enduring principles of Catholic social teaching, their emphases clearly reflect the bishops’ perception of the challenges facing the American people during a particular national election. One might more properly say, then, that the bishops’ guides are “issue” guides, largely dedicated to articulating Catholic teaching on controversial issues in a particular election.

This ordering of issues shapes the bishops’ advice regarding voting. “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,” they write. And while they also remind us that “a voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity,” note the contrast: a clear prohibition against voting for a candidate because he or she supports abortion rights, but only a vague admonition against “indifference or inattentiveness” to other important moral issues.

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/single-issue-trap

This poses a dilemma for Catholic voters. Most Dems take a position in favor of abortion, wheres most Reps advocate a position favoring racism.
So the bishops are telling Catholic voters to stay home or be branded as either cafeteria Catholics or just plain evil.

[rug]

1. To be more precise, the Democratic platform supports choice, not abortion per se.

That is a distinction the hierarchy ignores. While the Church is free to oppose abortions on theological and moral grounds, it is not free to impose those beliefs on a secular society.

The fact is, most statutes that outlawed abortion were criminal statutes. There is nothing in Catholic moral theology that requires Catholics to support laws that criminally penalize women, doctors and nurses who choose to make a different moral decision.