Posted on 11/10/2008 12:21:00 PM PST by Ebenezer
Yesterday, according to the exit polls, between 53 and 54% of American Catholic voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama, despite the Democratic candidate's enthusiastic support for unrestricted legal abortion.
Nationwide, Protestant voters supported John McCain, by a solid 54- 45% margin. But the Catholic vote broke for Obama. Why?
Earlier this week the US Conference of Catholic Bishops released a helpful listing of the 50 American states [http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=997], with the proportion of population in each state. In 7 states, Catholics make up more than 30% of the population. Obama captured all 7 of those states on Election Day. In 8 states, Catholics account for less than 5% of the population. Seven of those states swung for McCain, and the 8th, North Carolina, is still listed as "too close to call" as I write this analysis.
To be sure, America's Catholic population is heavily concentrated in states that have a liberal political tilt. But is that a coincidence? Are those states hotbeds of liberalism despite the heavy Catholic presence, or because of it?
Yes, Catholics have traditionally leaned toward the Democratic Party for historical reasons. But why have Catholic voters remained doggedly loyal to a party that has come, in the early 21st century, to be wholly allied with the "culture of death" on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem-cell research?
The support that Obama won among Catholic voters is noteworthy because in the last presidential contest, in 2004, President Bush won 52% of the Catholic vote while his opponent John Kerry-- himself a Catholic!-- managed only 46%. Catholic support for the Democratic candidate rose markedly in this campaign, even though the Democratic contender was the most militantly pro-abortion candidate ever to win a major party's presidential nomination.
This trend is all the more remarkable because over the course of the past several weeks, dozens of American bishops issued strong public statements reminding their people of their moral obligation to vote in defense of human life. Those statements varied in candor and in quality, but their overall impact was remarkable. The 2008 campaign produced a seismic change in the attitude of the American hierarchy; the bishops as a group were far more outspoken, far more explicit, than in any previous election.
And still most Catholics voted for Obama. Again: why?
Before answering that question, let me cite one more vitally important piece of polling information: Among Catholic voters who attend Mass weekly, McCain won majority support: 54- 45%. Among those who do not attend weekly Mass, the margin for Obama was an overwhelming 61- 37%. Thus Obama drew his support from inactive Catholics. And unfortunately, most American Catholics are inactive.
In an interview recorded just before Election Day, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver explained that he had decided to take a prominent public stand on the obligations of Catholic voters because the "quieter approach to these things has not been effective." How right he was! He and many other prelates deserve the gratitude of loyal Catholics for their willingness to take a more energetic approach. This year, at last, the American bishops were clear and forthright in their teaching. Yet on Election Day it became evident that millions of American Catholics weren't listening.
Should we be surprised if Catholics ignore directives from the hierarchy? Should we be surprised that Catholics who do not attend Mass regularly-- thereby violating a precept of the Church-- ignore Church teachings on other issues as well? No, this result was predictable.
An entire generation of American Catholics has grown accustomed to dissent from Church teaching, and grown accustomed to seeing their bishops tolerate that dissent. In the 35 years since Roe v. Wade, Catholics have watched their Church leaders handle pro-abortion Catholic politicians with kid gloves, treating their moral treason as a minor annoyance rather than a public scandal. Yes, the bishops routinely denounced abortion; but at the same time they treated the public supporters of taxpayer-funded abortion with jovial deference. Puzzled lay Catholics concluded that the bishops didn't really take the issue too seriously, and the laity in turn stopped taking their bishops seriously. A few dozen statements from brave orthodox bishops in the autumn of 2008-- however clear, however compelling-- were not enough to undo a generation of damage.
Abortion is not an isolated issue. Lackadaisical American Catholics are not ignoring Church leadering on this issue alone, but on the entire range of Catholic teaching. Most Catholics skip Sunday Mass regularly. Most Catholics rarely if ever go to Confession. Most Catholics use contraceptives. Most Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. Most Catholics no longer accept Church authority on any issue. Why should we be surprised, then, if on Election Day most Catholics ignore Church teachings on their moral obligation to vote in defense of human life?
For most of my life I have lived in Massachusetts, a state whose political culture was once thoroughly dominated by active Catholics. In my book The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594032114?ie=UTF8&tag=cwnewscom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1594032114] I explain how that Catholic culture deteriorated, as the faithful drifted away from the Church, until today the political scene in Massachusetts is dominated not by Catholics but by ex-Catholics, thoroughly hostile to the teachings of the Church.
Are Catholics in other states following the same trend? Will the next presidential election see even strong support for the "culture of death" among voters who identify themselves-- inaccurately-- as believing Catholics? Regrettably, I see the same forces that corrupted Catholicism in my native state now active all across the nation.
To repair the damage, we must recognize that the problem is not restricted to abortion, nor to defense-of-life issues. Indeed it is not, strictly speaking, a political problem. To restore the integrity of the Catholic vote, we must first restore the integrity of the Catholic faith, and rebuild the foundations of a Catholic culture.
That will be my goal-- my crusade-- in coming years. I hope and pray you'll join me.
Faith of Our Fathers ping
A slippery slope following birth control to Planned Parenthood?
Already posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2126950/posts
This makes me sick as I was christened in the Catholic Church. 54% of Catholics and 78% of Jews let America and themselves down. It is disgraceful.
Already posted when it was published, 5 days ago.
I'm the only one who is pro-life.
I'm the only one who doesn't want 'free' health care at the expense of my free-dom.
I think most "Catholics" nowadays consider their church to be a social club.
The very word "morality" makes them snort with contempt.
Sorry for the duplication.
That’s easy. Catholics don’t live their faith. Evangelicals do. You will know them by their fruits.
It clearly sounds like the Vatican must do more to educate American Catholics about their faith. The monastic orders are the obvious choice to send through America on a mission of education, helping the laity steer away from heterodoxy.
Just for them to be available, to speak with and visit the young, adult and old, would be a grand experience for all concerned.
Oh, what about the significant percentage of Evangelicals who DID vote for Obama? Were they “living their faith”?
The dumbing down of many voters in general greatly benefited the political left at each and every level. Conservatives don’t even have anything that even comes close to equalling all of the advantages that the political left presently has, and this is why I’m not seriously convinced that this rapid shift to the profound left is only temporary and will end in either ‘10, ‘12, ‘14, ‘16... I give the conservative movement sixty years before it does make any kind of serious political comeback, if it even makes any kind of political comeback to begin with. I really do want to be wrong about all of this, but I don’t believe that I’m wrong. Look at how many countries throughout the entire world still maintain a socialistic form of government, even if they really don’t like it.
Protestant voters were evenly split between being registered as Democrats and Republicans. However, they sided with Sen. McCain by a 53% to 46% split. That 7-point gap was just half the margin accorded to George W. Bush in 2004 (57% to 42%), but within range of the 4-point preference given to Mr. Bush in 2000 (51% to 47%).
Nearly half of all registered Catholics were aligned with the Democratic Party (48%), compared to only about one-quarter associated with the Republicans (28%) and one-fifth who remained independent (20%). Their voting behavior was significantly different than that of Protestants: they backed Sen. Obama by a 56% to 43% outcome. That was far different than the even split in 2004 (49% for Pres. Bush vs. 49% for Sen. Kerry) and substantially more support for the Democratic candidate than they had given to Al Gore in 2000 (49%, versus 43% to Mr. Bush).
What a ridiculous statement.
Textbook example of a Type I Error.
When a Catholic falls away from the Church and doesn't live his faith any more, he generally still refers to himself as a Catholic anyway.
When an Evangelical falls away from the Christian life, he generally doesn't refer to himself as an Evangelical anymore.
That's the only difference.
The number of people who claim to have been born again at some point in their lives and the number of people who actually live a Evangelical life is as great a discrepancy as the number of people who are nominally Catholic and those who actually live a Catholic life.
Had two catholic church going friends bite my head off when I said I could never vote democrat while they were for abortion on demand, even for young girls without parental notification.
Color me stunned.
There is nothing wrong with Catholics. Those that vote democrat aren’t catholic. You can’t be pro-abortion and be Catholic.
They and the church are strong believers in socialism. How many times has the phrase "social justice" been used in catholic newspapers (Social justice meaning taking from those who earned it and giving it so someoen who didn't so that the robber can feel good) Catholic Charaties USA gets over $1,000,000,000 of taxpayer loot annually in grants. Don't think that the church is going to say "no don't trob the taxpayers - we don't want the money."
The Catholic bureaucracy has been bought by the statists in government and paid for with our tax dollars. Look for some more endorsement of the obomanation's gun control agenda like the American council of Catholic Bishops did in 1994 for Clinton's gun bans.
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