[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion

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Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion

October 11, 2004
 By MARK W. ROCHE 



 

South Bend, Ind. - For more than a century, from the wave
of immigrants in the 19th century to the election of the
first Catholic president in 1960, American Catholics
overwhelmingly identified with the Democratic Party. In the
past few decades, however, that allegiance has largely
faded. Now Catholics are prototypical "swing voters": in
2000, they split almost evenly between Al Gore and George
W. Bush, and recent polls show Mr. Bush ahead of Senator
John Kerry, himself a Catholic, among white Catholics. 

There are compelling reasons - cultural, socioeconomic and
political - for this shift. But if Catholic voters honestly
examine the issues of consequence in this election, they
may find themselves returning to their Democratic roots in
2004. 

The parties appeal to Catholics in different ways. The
Republican Party opposes abortion and the destruction of
embryos for stem-cell research, both positions in accord
with Catholic doctrine. Also, Republican support of various
faith-based initiatives, including school vouchers, tends
to resonate with Catholic voters. 

Members of the Democratic Party, meanwhile, are more likely
to criticize the handling of the war in Iraq, to oppose
capital punishment and to support universal heath care,
environmental stewardship, a just welfare state and more
equitable taxes. These stances are also in harmony with
Catholic teachings, even if they may be less popular among
individual Catholics. 

When values come into conflict, it is useful to develop
principles that help place those values in a hierarchy. One
reasonable principle is that issues of life and death are
more important than other issues. This seems to be the
strategy of some Catholic and church leaders, who directly
or indirectly support the Republican Party because of its
unambiguous critique of abortion. Indeed, many Catholics
seem to think that if they are truly religious, they must
cast their ballots for Republicans. 

This position has two problems. First, abortion is not the
only life-and-death issue in this election. While the
Republicans line up with the Catholic stance on abortion
and stem-cell research, the Democrats are closer to the
Catholic position on the death penalty, universal health
care and environmental protection. 

More important, given the most distinctive issue of the
current election, Catholics who support President Bush must
reckon with the Catholic doctrine of "just war." This
doctrine stipulates that a war is just only if all possible
alternative strategies have been pursued to their ultimate
conclusion; the war is conducted in accordance with moral
principles (for example, the avoidance of unnecessary
civilian casualties and the treatment of prisoners with
dignity); and the war leads to a more moral state of
affairs than existed before it began. While Mr. Kerry, like
many other Democrats, voted for the war, he has since
objected to the way it was planned and waged. 

Second, politics is the art of the possible. During the
eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal
abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the
eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped
by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the
number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15
and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years,
but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent.


There are many reasons for this shift. Yet surely the
traditional Democratic concern with the social safety net
makes it easier for pregnant women to make responsible
decisions and for young life to flourish; among the most
economically disadvantaged, abortion rates have always been
and remain the highest. The world's lowest abortion rates
are in Belgium and the Netherlands, where abortion is legal
but where the welfare state is strong. Latin America, where
almost all abortions are illegal, has one of the highest
rates in the world. 

None of this is to argue that abortion should be
acceptable. History will judge our society's support of
abortion in much the same way we view earlier generations'
support of torture and slavery - it will be universally
condemned. The moral condemnation of abortion, however,
need not lead to the conclusion that criminal prosecution
is the best way to limit the number of abortions. Those who
view abortion as the most significant issue in this
campaign may well want to supplement their abstract desire
for moral rectitude with a more realistic focus on how best
to ensure that fewer abortions take place. 

In many ways, Catholic voters' growing political
independence has led to a profusion of moral dilemmas: they
often feel they must abandon one good for the sake of
another. But while they may be dismayed at John Kerry's
position on abortion and stem-cell research, they should be
no less troubled by George W. Bush's stance on the death
penalty, health care, the environment and just war. Given
the recent history of higher rates of abortion with
Republicans in the White House, along with the tradition of
Democratic support of equitable taxes and greater
integration into the world community, more Catholics may
want to reaffirm their tradition of allegiance to the
Democratic Party in 2004. 

Mark W. Roche is dean of the College of Arts and Letters at
the University of Notre Dame. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/opinion/11roche.html?ex=1098513543&ei=1&en=cd98fb68ad224869


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