COMMENTARY: Church Leaders Should Butt Out of the Ballot Box

c. 2004 Religion News Service (Frances Coleman is editorial page editor of the Mobile (Ala.) Register.) (UNDATED) I am a lifelong Roman Catholic and proud of it. I love my church. But I have a message for some of the men who are running its American branch these days: Cut it out, guys. You heard […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Frances Coleman is editorial page editor of the Mobile (Ala.) Register.)

(UNDATED) I am a lifelong Roman Catholic and proud of it. I love my church. But I have a message for some of the men who are running its American branch these days:


Cut it out, guys.

You heard me. Quit telling people who they can vote for and why, and what will happen to them if they vote the wrong way.

You’re acting like we’re back in the old days and in the Old World, when the church and the secular government worked hand in hand and most ordinary parishioners were desperately poor and even more desperately ignorant.

This is the United States of America, where the separation of church and state is a cherished civic doctrine and casting one’s vote as one chooses is a sacred right.

It’s your job to lead us in worship and to teach us about the mysteries of the Almighty. With your help, we can learn to make wise choices _ both secular and spiritual _ and live moral lives.

But it is not your job to tell us how to vote, or to suggest that choosing a president is a matter of picking the good guy over the bad guy.

If only it were that simple. It’s not, however _ as you well know, dealing with human nature on a daily basis.

Yes, Democratic candidate John Kerry is a Catholic and his pro-choice stance directly contradicts the church’s teaching that abortion is murder.

I happen to agree with the church and happen not to be planning to vote for Kerry. But if I did vote for him, according to bishops like Colorado Springs’ Michael Sheridan, I would be committing a sin.


Earlier this year, Sheridan issued a pastoral letter saying that Catholics who support abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or gay marriage may not receive Holy Communion until they recant their positions and repent in the confessional.

Interestingly, the bishop didn’t mention the church’s stances against capital punishment and pre-emptive wars _ stances with which, again, I happen to agree. May I therefore not support George Bush, who opposes abortion but is a proponent of capital punishment (to put it mildly) and whose decision to invade Iraq was criticized by the pope himself?

There comes a time, gentlemen, when a Catholic _ and, indeed, believers of every faith _ has to consider all that he or she has learned and then, praying for God’s guidance, must make choices from among alternatives that are neither fully perfect nor fully imperfect.

Which is how I can in good conscience choose to vote for Bush next month and my husband can in good conscience choose to vote for Kerry. We’ve searched what there is to know about the candidates, and we’ve searched ourselves to determine which man _ spiritual warts and all _ we think can best lead our country.

I do not believe that my husband is comfortable with Kerry’s pro-choice position; and as for me, I have never understood how someone can oppose abortion and yet support capital punishment, as Bush does, given that both issues hinge on the sanctity of life.

But, gentlemen, that’s the nature of politics.

Remember Mr. Potato Head, the toy from our childhood? And how we kids would add hats, lips, earrings and other features to his blank head until we had customized him to our liking?


That was then, long before we grew up to become bishops and journalists and voters. This is now, when we know that we can’t fashion people _ including politicians _ to our liking.

Frankly, only a child could fail to see the difference.

KRE/PH END COLEMAN

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