Letter to the Editor
For Catholics, responsible citizenship, which includes voting, is very important. However, certain critical issues have not been addressed or explained adequately to Catholic voters in this election cycle.
Although many Catholics are not single-issue voters, please be advised that a political candidate’s position on a single issue may disqualify that candidate from receiving a vote from a faithful Catholic. A “disqualifying issue” pertains to actions of intrinsic moral evil, which are defined as actions which can never at any time or under any circumstances be promoted, committed or enabled by a faithful Catholic. A disqualifying issue is of such gravity and importance that it is non-negotiable and renders a candidate unacceptable for public office.
For example, a candidate who supports abortion or any other intrinsic moral evil (such as euthanasia) disqualifies herself or himself as a person a Catholic can vote for at the national, state or local level. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position paper states that the Catholic must always oppose policies that violate human life or weaken its protection. Human life is sacred, and direct attacks on innocent life are never morally acceptable. Therefore, intrinsic evils such as abortion and euthanasia must be vigorously opposed. A political candidate who supports these policies disqualifies her/himself as a person a Catholic may vote for.
Neither of the presidential candidates is perfectly aligned with Catholic teaching on every issue. What if neither of the presidential candidates is completely pro-life? Then Catholics must make an attempt to limit the evil aspects of abortion by determining which candidate would cause the less damage. It follows from Saint John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)” that if neither candidate is completely pro-life, then a voter should cast his ballot for the candidate who will most likely limit the evils of abortion.
Linda MacMonagle
Adjunct Professor of Philosophy (ret.), Erie, Pennsylvania
Since god doesn’t consider a fetus life, neither do I. In Exodus 21:21-23, only the pregnant woman is considered life and not the fetus. It states, “When…a man knocks against a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage…then the offender must pay whatever fine the woman’s husband demands…But where injury ensues, you are to give life for life”. And since god is pro-abortion, so am I. In Numbers 5:11-28, god commands the Levite priests to give an adulterous pregnant woman “the ordeal water and it enters her body to test her, she will suffer a miscarriage or untimely birth”. Why have evangelicals and Catholics adopted religious beliefs directly contradicted by God’s word?