Can I separate the tenets of faith from secular affairs when voting? Or would my ability to separate these two (my Catholic faith from secular sensibilities) indicate that my faith is not real?
What do you think? An example often debated is abortion with some politicians declaring themselve pro-choice and Christian in loud voices but there are other issues..
I am trying to figure this out before the next Presidential election. Your views?
What is real faith? This is the question lurking beneath my struggle with this..
2007-12-23 10:30:05 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
All very helpful.. Thank you.. Church is also a state of mind, otherwise I would not consider myself Catholic.. Is faith a light switch which goes on and off?
What do you think?
2007-12-23 12:25:25 · update #1
Wow! A lot to think about. Thank you!
2007-12-23 13:34:43 · update #2
you vote with your mind.
2007-12-23 10:33:33 · answer #1 · answered by god_of_the_accursed 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Vote with no pre-judgments. Vote for whom you think is the best candidate, not for whom your religion thinks is best. I'm not saying disregard your faith completely...Obviously your faith will help you pick the candidate who agrees most with your morals. But there are other issues aside from abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc that must be taken into consideration that have nothing to do with religion. These other issues dealing with economics, national defense, healthcare, etc are the main issues that must be addressed by a leader. The president must lead a nation full of many different faiths, and must be able to deal with other faiths abroad, so remember to keep an open mind and choose wisely. Real faith is doing what you think is right, not what others think, especially when you're unsure about their opinions.
2007-12-23 19:27:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would hope that you vote with a secular mind.
Church and State are SUPPOSED to be separate.
Vote for the person YOU think is the best person to run the country. Will he/she run the country into the ground? Will they start world war three? If yes, then DO NOT vote for them.
Vote for the person who will NOT start World war three. Vote for the person who wants to end the war. That is - if you also want to end the wars.
2007-12-23 19:51:12 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try to vote with the mind that can look at the entire situation, not just your corner of it, and do your best to vote for the greater good of an entire nation, not just one part of it. I'm not sure I could tell you what real faith is. It's a very personal thing. It's not in the book, or the rules, but in a heart that seeks a relationship with an intangible. Instead of focusing on hot button topics like abortion, or stem cell research, I try to focus on trying to determine who is most likely to help things like making sure our nation's kids have medicine when they need it, and education, and who is likely to be our best bet to heal the rift between our country and other countries, and get our people home from Iraq. The hot button topics are popular to get people wound up, and push for an agenda, they are often used as a smokescreen to distract us, but really, in the long run they will not affect your life nearly as much as whether there are jobs to help you support your family, and education to make sure that the kids who are in school right now are prepared to run the world that you will be elderly in. Do your best to rise above, and try to see the big picture. If your conscience tells you to vote for someone, while the pulpit tells you to vote another way, do try to keep in mind that the church is run by people, just like you, and that is their opinion, and their interpretation of the rules, and they could have an agenda. I don't think it means your faith is not real, if your conscience tells you to vote for someone when someone else in your flock tells you to vote otherwise. No religion is perfect, it can't be as long as it is interpreted by people. People are fallible, and they bring their own baggage to the table. Allow your religion to guide you to live a better life to the best of your understanding, but not live your life for you. As long as you believe everything stated in the Apostle's Creed, you are a faithful Catholic. In no part of the Apostle's Creed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed
does it say anything about how one should vote, in order to be considered a faithful Catholic.The statement of faith embodied by the Apostles Creed concerns itself with the basic tenets of what it means to be a faithful Catholic, it doesn't say anything about how you should vote, and does not concern itself with the secular world. Examine your conscience, do the best you can to be informed of the records and experience of those you are considering, pray for the wisdom to cast your vote with a higher view, then do the best you can to try to cast your vote for what would be best for an entire nation, and an entire world in the long run. No one has any right to ask anything from you, other than to do the best you can.
Good luck...........
2007-12-23 20:24:35 · answer #4 · answered by beatlefan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know our Church says that we are not to vote for any candidate that is pro-abortion but it is one of the few things about the Church that I really do not agree with. I would assume God would be plenty angry if I voted for someone who is greedy, and promotes war and death. Nobody is "Pro-Abortion" by the way. Just for the right to choose.
2007-12-23 19:13:33 · answer #5 · answered by quadraticpanic 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pray before you vote that the Holy Spirit will guide and lead into all truth, this is the very essence of the mind of Christ:
"13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." - 1 Corinthians 2:13-16.
2007-12-23 19:04:35 · answer #6 · answered by NJ Gold 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You should vote according to your conscience.
Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey.
Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment.
For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.
His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary.
There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.
For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1776 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt1art6.htm#1776
With love in Christ.
2007-12-23 21:38:54 · answer #7 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Vote with a rational mind.
Is the person i am voting for a 'pedlar of death' ?
One cannot be proabortion and have faith in the Incarnation
2007-12-23 18:54:34 · answer #8 · answered by James O 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
use your own mind to hell with the religious BS the catholic priests are only praying for more altar boys !
2007-12-23 18:34:02 · answer #9 · answered by bl_fkt 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋