Stephen Stachofsky Mrs. Baum Catholic Social Teaching 03/5/13 Political Responsibility Politics: it is what keeps the world running. With the world’s modern politics, Catholics, as Catholics, have a special obligation of practicing political responsibility, The CCC, Catechism of the Catholic Church, says “Catholics have a moral obligation to promote the common good through the exercise of their voting privileges” (CCC 2240) this includes having a well formed conscience, intricate knowledge of the non-negotiable issues as taught by the Church, and knowledge of what it means to participate fully in the political world. The world needs conscience. In our society a well formed conscience is extremely rare, and not only is it rare, it is rarely used. “Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act… [every person] is obliged to follow faithfully what he [or she] knows to be just and right.” (CCC,1778). Conscience, like a muscle in your body, can be honed, tuned, built, and taught. When taking a role in political policies Catholics cannot be single issue voters. Using their consciences and the teachings of the Church, a voter has an obligation to sift the facts of what a candidate represents and stands for (Faithful Citizenship. par 25.) Forming a good conscience relies heavily, first and foremost on the virtue of prudence. The virtue of prudence is the practice of discerning the good in all circumstances, and choosing the right means of accomplishing it (CCC, 1806). By using our consciences and the virtue of prudence, one can determine what the best outcome of a situation is and strive toward that. In the political world this entails voting for candidates yo... ... middle of paper ... ...eritate. N.d. TS. Vatican City, Rome. Web. 13 Jan. 2013. "Pluralism." Def. 3. Merriam-Webster. Encyclopedia Britannica Company, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. . Loverde, Paul S., Bishop of Arlington, and Francis X. DiLorenzo, Bishop of Richmond. "Election Letter: Voting with a Well-formed Conscience." Abortion. Catholic Bishops of Virginia, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. . John Paul, II . "Veritatis Splendor, Encyclical Letter, John Paul II."Veritatis Splendor, Encyclical Letter, John Paul II. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. . Ratzinger, Joseph, Card., and Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop Emeritus of Cercelli. "Doctrinal Note on Some Questions regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life." Doctrinal Note on Some Questions regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. .
To begin with, it must be remembered that Catholic culture and Catholic faith, while mutually supportive and symbiotic, are not the same thing. Mr. Walker Percy, in his Lost in the Cosmos, explored the difference, and pointed out that, culturally, Catholics in Cleveland are much more Protestant than Presbyterians in say, Taos, New Orleans, or the South of France. Erik, Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, points out that the effects of this dichotomy upon politics, attributing the multi-party system in Catholic countries to the Catholic adherence to absolutes; he further ascribes the two-party system to the Protestant willingness to compromise. However this may be, it does point up a constant element in Catholic thought---the pursuit of the absolute.
The call of conscience is continuous and it “summons” people to the challenge of assuming the ethical responsibility of affirming their freedom through resolute choice. For instance, people can structure and live their existence in a meaningful and moral way (Hyde, 2006, p. 39). Call of conscience is a driving force that pushes people to do what is morally right not only for them, but for others as well. Furthermore, call of conscience is a call of Being, “the call of Being demands courage from those who remain open to it and, in doing so, stand ready to acknowledge how their ways of thinking and acting may not be as authentic and respectful as they could possibly be” (Hyde, 2006, p. 51). A call of conscience persuades someone to do the right thing no matter what, even if a person helping someone else has the potential of having negative percussions for doing
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
The message of political alignment is a vast and varying concept, one that will be debated for as a long as party divisions exist. This divide however exists in not just the Christian community. We begin with the metaphor of a shepherds flock, blindly following what an individual says over ones own thinking. Boyd furthers this concept of alignment and how “many who left sincerely believe there is little ambiguity in how true Christian faith translates into politics. Since God is against abortion, Christians should vote for the pro-life candidate, they believe- and the preacher should say so” (Boyd 2). This blind adherence to one topic, one issue is unfortunately a failure on an intellectual level of all people, whether Christian or not. The
One of the biggest misconceptions of today’s society is that politics is run by pure fact and argument, with no spiritual aspect. However, Amanda Porterfield verifies in her novel Conceived in Doubt that this statement is pretentious and false. Amanda Porterfield takes us back to the time of early government structure and development. This era in the United States is in a stage of constant change and reformation. The United States could even be argued as blind by their religious views, affecting their morals and well-being for the future of the nation. In her novel, Porterfield stresses that the government is in no way free of the church’s principles and deserts the attempt to break the bond.
In 1789, the First Amendment established that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” This meant the Federal and State Governments could not be partial or show support for any certain denomination or religious organization. However, throughout the history of the United States the controversial question over the relationship between church and state has always been called into question in establishing a one religion government. The main focus of the inquiry is to decide whether to keep the establishment clause or to tear it down and move towards a theocratic system. One side of the debate is the group against the separation of Church and State, who believe that if America was a more religious nation that it would become more moral as well as bring everyone in agreement with national decision making. Therefore the belief is that the United State would become more unified in an already corrupt system. On the other hand, the side for separation argues that the distance between established religion and national government is inherently necessary to keep maintain: religious tolerance, prevent biases, and prejudices, along with any sort of religious freedom in country that has thousands of different organized religions.
prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are vital facets in the decision-making process. Prudence affects moral judgment, sensitivity, and intention. It is concerned with the knowledge and practical wisdom. Justice, on the other hand, refers to the permanent attitude to perform what is fair. Another virtue; temperance refers to the desire to pursue what is just while avoiding dangerous undertakings. The fortitude virtue then controls the passions of humans like despair, fear, anger, audacity, and hope. All these elements affect both individual and organizational factors of ethical decision-making (Cabello-Medina,
In St. Augustine’s book entitled Political Writings, one could see that Christianity plays a very important role in his view of politics. His opinion on the morality or lack of morality in politics, to me makes it more evident that Christianity persuades his views. Although it seems his writings have become quite well known and admired, not everyone fully shared his beliefs. Niccolo Machiavelli, for instance, seemed to believe in a government that was not driven by morality, but more by practicality. In, The Prince, Machiavelli stresses that the moral fibers of government should not be so soft. Like St. Augustine, his work went on to become one of the most famous books ever written about politics. Throughout the two works there are some similarities and differences regarding politics, however it their view of Christianity and morality that many find most intriguing.
Williams, O. F. Catholic Social Teaching: A Communitarian Democratic Capitalism for the New World Order. Journal of Business Ethics, 1993.Vol.12, no.12 p. 919-923.
The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...
" Political Theology 10.2 (2009): 287-303. Academic Search Complete. Web. The Web. The Web.
According to Catholic teaching, the Church comes not only limited autonomy in the state, but also a sovereign in his own domain. This is a consequence of its founding by Christ, his character of God's people. After the secularization of the state in modern times, it seems to be extremely dangerous for the freedom and identity of the Church to be treated within the state as a structure of public law of the State. Peaceful separation of state and cooperation on an equal footing with him can best match the theological nature of the Church.
But with that said, some positive social changes have come about from the introduction of Catholicism to Latin America. In its true form, the church has been a source of basic human rights for the people. The church would often oppose the government’s unjust treatment of the people, who otherwise had no other representation. The church also formed a society to encourage cooperation with each other to develop a better civilization. The church would also provide a foundation for education, health care, skills for building and farming. The Catholic Church has played such a major role in the shaping of Latin American culture, that it cannot be separated from it.
The relation between religion and politics continues to be an important theme in political philosophy. One reason for the importance of this topic is that religions often make strong claims on people’s allegiance, and universal religions make these claims on all pe...
Modern Catholic social teachings trace its beginnings to the writings of Pope Leo XIII. His insight on Christian philosophy, politics and the social order and applies to teachings in current injustices in the economic order. Leo XIII’s teachings were also critical participation in the developments of modern social and economic life. He rooted his social ethics in the supreme value of the human person and added that all political and social structures need to respect and respond to this primary and moral claim of human dignity. While the Church and the political community are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields, the Church is “at once the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person”.