Religion & Law

Regarding Sean's comment, whether it was "vote Republican" or "don't vote for Obama," it is the "or be eternally damned" part of the sentence (which is pretty close to the exact language I heard in one radio quote) which for me moves the statement out of the realm of moral guidance.

Let me be clear.  I don't think there is anything wrong with a bishop saying some version of, "Here is how I weigh things out...here is how I believe the principles apply in comparing candidate x and candidate y....here is why I don't think candidate x's positions on other issues outweigh his position on an instrincis evil.." and any number of other variations.  In fact, I think such statements consitute entirely appropriate moral guidance and are an important part of helping people to form their consciences.

Where Sean and I appear to differ is whether it constitutes moral guidance (as opposed to moral oppression) for a Biship to tell voters they may not come to a particular judgement without risking eternal damnation.  I do not believe that is something that helps form consciences and therefore don't find it to be consistent with the spirit of the document. 

It is also the case that a number of Catholic leaders did more than say "Don't vote Obama."  My recolleciton now is that some of the statements sounded a lot more like Republican endorsements.