Posted on 10/12/2012 6:46:09 AM PDT by marshmallow
When Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan as his running mate for the GOP presidential ticket, Mr. Romney made sure that this fall’s election would be historic on a variety of levels. While many are focusing on the economic gravitas that Rep. Ryan brings to the race, others are noting the religious variety apparent at the top of each major party’s ticket. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, President Obama is a mainline Protestant, and the vice-presidential nominees, Ryan and Joe Biden, share a common bond as professing Roman Catholics. Commentators are already busy parsing the partisan divide between the co-religionists Biden and Ryan, but having Roman Catholics represented in such prominent positions in this campaign and particularly in tonight's debate is also likely to catapult another player into the national political consciousness: Catholic Social Teaching (CST).
For people of faith, and even for people of no particular faith whatsoever, CST represents a praiseworthy model for responsible civil engagement in a diverse and plural culture. The tradition of social encyclicals was inaugurated just over 120 years ago with the promulgation of Rerum Novarum (Of the New Things) by Pope Leo XIII, which focused on the problem of poverty and social upheaval in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. This encyclical ushered in an era of sustained and substantive reflection on the social implications of the Catholic faith in the modern world, continued by a long line of noteworthy publications, papers, books, conferences, and debates. The most recent social encyclical appeared from the current bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI, in 2009 under the title Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), which deals with (among other things) the challenges and opportunities of globalization and economic and political instability.
A hallmark of Catholic Social Teaching, and the social encyclicals together, is a characteristically Roman.....
(Excerpt) Read more at acton.org ...
I’m a Protestant and I have yet to find a Protestant Denomination that spoke out as clearly against abortion as Catholics and - Mormons. Most are too afraid of alienating potential contributors and affecting their bottom lines. This is especially true of the Episcopal Church USA!
Biden is no Catholic; just a CINO.
My mother has been active in the Pro Life movement since its earliest days (in the 60’s, when a few of the most liberal states were pushing to legalize it). She and her colleagues tried repeatedly to get the Catholic Church interested in their cause. Frankly they were not too receptive until Roe v. Wade grabbed their attention. While they talk a good game they have been far too reluctant to deal with their #1 problem...Catholic politicians, proclaiming their Catholicism and shilling shamelessly for Catholic votes....all the while never having met an abortion they didn’t like.
Biden is no Catholic; just a CINO.
Neither is Pelosi yet on the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday they show up on Capitol Hill with the obligatory dot of ashes on their foreheads yet condone the murder of the innocents. I don’t like to judge, but I don’t think God is happy about that, ashes or no ashes.
“Subsidiarity” is STILL valid Catholic theology.
We are not to allow higher levels of authority to intrude on areas of authority best left to the:
Individual
Family
Church
City
County
State
Country
Catholic social teaching says that “It is impossible to be, at the same time, a Catholic and a Socialist”
(The above a paraphrase of a Pope)
The problem I found with almost all denominations is that the political aspect of moving ahead in the Church Hierarchy, managing Church Assets, collecting contributions and above all, not making waves, takes precedence over teaching and living the theology. In other words, the clergy is largely staffed with greedy hypocrites.
How ignorant or dishonest do you have to be to claim Reverend Wright's "Black Liberation Theology" is "mainline Protestant?"
When the founder of "Black Liberation Theology" was asked for the best example of a church following his theology, he cited Reverend Wright's church. For examples of Cone's theology, here's a few quote I keep handy:
From “A Black Theology of Liberation” by James H. Cone (1970)
Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy... Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love, (Page 70)From “Black Theology and Black Power” by James H. Cone (1969):With the assurance that God is on our side, we can begin to make ready for the inevitable-the decisive encounter between black and white existence. ….We will not let whitey cool this one with his pious love ethic but will seek to enhance our hostility, bringing it to its full manifestation. (Page 12)
To be black is to be committed to destroying everything this country loves and adores. (Page 20)
The black experience is the feeling one has when attacking the enemy of black humanity by throwing a Molotov cocktail into a white-owned building and watching it go up in flames. (Page 25)
Every time a white master came to his death, blacks believed that it was the work of God inflicting just judgment in recompense for the suffering of God’s people. (Page 37)
As the oppressed now recognize their situation in the light of God’s revelation, they know that they should have killed their oppressors instead of trying to “love” them. (Page 51)
Because whiteness by its very nature is against blackness, the black prophet is a prophet of national doom. He proclaims the end of the “American Way,” for God has stirred the soul of the black community. (Page 55)
It (Black theology) must stay in the black community and get down to the real issues at hand (“cutting throats” to use LeRoi Jones’s phrase) (Page 59)
The goal of black theology is the destruction of everything white… (page 62)
What we need is the divine love; as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal. (Page 70)
The free person in America is the one who does not tolerate whiteness but fights against it, knowing that it is the source of human misery. (page 101)
Freedom is the black movement of a people getting ready to liberate itself, knowing that it cannot be unless its oppressors cease to be. (page 101)
The Constitution is white, the Emancipation Proclamation is white, the government is white, business is white, the unions are white. What we need is the destruction of whiteness, which is the source of human misery in the world. (page 107)
The black Christ is he who threatens the structure of evil as seen in white society, rebelling against it, thereby becoming the embodiment of what the black community knows that it must become. (page 121)
The black Christ is he who nourishes the rebellious impulse in blacks so that at the appointed time the black community can respond collectively to the white community as a corporate “bad nigger,” lashing out at the enemy of human-kind. (page 121)
To be a disciple of the black Christ is to become black with him. Looting, burning, or the destruction of white property are not primary concerns. Such matters can only be decided by the oppressed themselves who are seeking to develop their images of the black Christ. (page 123)
I believe that all aspiring black intellectuals share the task that LeRoi Jones has described for the black artist in America: “To aid in the destruction of America as he knows it:” (page 3)And it should be said that racism is so embedded in the heart of American society that few, if any, whites can free themselves from it. (page 23)
In time of war, men want to know who the enemy is. Who is for me and who is against me? That is the question. The asserting of black freedom in America has always meant war. (page 26)
…violence may be the black man’s expression, sometimes the only possible expression, of Christian love to the white oppressor. (page 55)
If there is any contemporary meaning of the Antichrist (or “the principalities and powers”), the white church seems to be a manifestation of it. It is the enemy of Christ. (page 73)
Just as the black revolution means the death of America as it has been, so it requires the death of the Church in its familiar patterns. (page 116)
If the doctrine is against or indifferent to the essence of blackness as expressed in Black Power, then it is the work of the Antichrist: It is as simple as that. (page 121)
It is a theology which confronts white society as the racist Antichrist, communicating to the oppressor that nothing will be spared in the fight for freedom. (page 135)
Whiteness, as revealed in the history of America, is the expression of what is wrong with man. It is a symbol of man’s depravity. page 150)
In a white racist society, Christian obedience can only mean being obedient to blackness, its glorification and exaltation. (page 150)
It is this fact that makes all white churches anti-Christian in their essence. To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people! (page 151)
Here in the Rust Belt there are far too many Priests who will say “well, the guy is for the unions and redistributing wealth to “the workin’ man” and they’ll let him slide on the slaughter of innocents.
In other words, not all Protestants per se, just two of them: Hunter Baker and Jordan Ballor. Just like the Catholic blueprint for Monarchy in America.
There are a few Protestant denominations that have formed as a result of splits away from larger ones that liberalized.
Here’s one that I would think is quite against abortion:
Serious Reformed denominations are small and, being more true to Biblical doctrine, don’t have appeal amongst those who are deceived by the antics of large Churches.
IMHO, there should be more of an effort to lead society on their part, as opposed to retreating from society.
Any article which characterizes bho as “mainline Protestant” is deliberate (and desperate) propaganda, or at least the most ignorant trash imaginable. Rubbish!! Even the blind can see what he is. We’ve had 4 years of it, after all, and its been totally consistent and most decidedly anti- Christian. This article is rubbish.
Actually the Episcopal Church USA actively supports and funds abortion. A dean of one of its seminaries actually said publically abortion is a great “blessing” of God.
And of course the latest Episcopal General Assembly voted that all Episcopal churches must not discriminate in hiring cross-dressers as pastors, child-care workers, staff, etc...
Sadly TEC is post-Christian.
Then please tell that to a number of Catholic priests and bishops in the US. My mother in law comes from a rather conservative place (Sioux Falls SD diocese) and is always saying that Christian Socialism is official teaching of the Catholic church.
In her area, it is.
type “subsidiarity” into your browser
Forward her some of the writings on that subject
A conclusion reached only by the obtuse and not supported by any evidence.
I’m sorry, but the ECUSA has veered off Christianity, unfortunately. The thing is that the Catholic Church is a large target for liberals and well, a common block, so we must speak forcefully for Christian morality. It is our duty,our responsibility. We MUST
I agree, led by High Priestess Jefferts-Schori
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