The American left is so predictable. Whatever ignominy is visited upon one of their heroes, they will be sure to do the same to someone on the right, justified or not. The right tried to delegitimize Bill Clinton, so the left delegitimized Bush. The right talked about “cleaning up the mess” left by Clinton, so Obama parrots the line to hooting crowds of hopium smokers.
The latest tit-for-tat is an attack on John Boehner by Catholic university professors. It is a return volley against those who protested Notre Dame conferring an honorary degree on pro-abortion Barack Obama.
The false equivalency cooked up by these snooty statists is to attack Boehner for voting against an ever burgeoning welfare state. The academic left has always been in open contempt of conservatism, but the latest strategy is to cloak their attacks in religious terms. Unfortunately for these aggressors, Christ left no instructions to governments.
There is no moral equivalency between supporting abortion and cutting government spending
The Catholic Church teaches as dogma that abortion and homosexual acts are evil. It has no similar iron laws concerning how to run a national government. Father Sirico, a Catholic priest, explains is better than I can…
To jump so seamlessly from the Magisterium’s insistence on the fundamental and non-negotiable moral obligation to the poor to the specifics of contingent, prudential, and political legislation is wholly unjustified in Catholic social teaching. (Fr Sirico – NRO)He goes on to give a detailed Catholic rebuttal to this uninformed criticism. This is one of my favorite quotes:
And then there is that passage in Pope Benedict’s most recent social encyclical Caritas in Veritate: “The Church does not have technical solutions to offer.”He also cites the role of Subsidiarity in Catholic social teaching, which these progressive professors must not be aware of:
The social teaching of the Church is based on the human person as the principle, subject and object of every social organization. Subsidiarity is one of the core principles of this teaching. This principle holds that human affairs are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the affected persons. (Catholic Culture – Subsidiarity)
This passage from the Catholic Catechism sounds dangerously libertarian...
Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. (Catholic Catechism)What escapes these statist professors is the notion that perhaps, just maybe, Speaker Boehner and other like-minded legislators hope to break the government shackles that have enslaved successive generations. Perhaps small government advocates hope to diminish the clanking, soulless bureaucratic beast and return the usurped power to individuals. Which is more empowering to the impoverished, a food stamp or a job and a bank account?
These pontificating professors need to go back and do their homework. Short of that, reading this George Will column will put it all in historical context: History Lessons for Obama and Other Liberals
12 comments:
Personally, I'm expecting Obama to give a commencement speech at a madrassa, specifically, the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County, Virginia.
What else could we expect from the left?
The left can't attack on subtenant grounds, so they pick any target... I think they have a better chance attacking his tan than his religion...
"which is more empowering?" indeed...well written, Silverfiddle, thanks.
Not only did Christ not leave instructions to govt's but there is also a Scripture about "if you don't work, you don't eat"..
put THAT in their HOPIUM pipes and smoke it!
Catholic Social Doctrine goes back a long ways and hasn't changed much over modern history.
I have studied it some over the years. It is the product of serious theological, philsophical, scientific study by some pretty serious and impressive people.
This wasn't coming from the "Left." To suggest otherwise only further confirms that you guys are now delving into a subject you know little to nothing about.
The Catholic institutions that formulate the Social Doctrine do not represent the "Left." The political bents run the global gamut. If anything, the Vatican's handling of the Liberation movement over the years should prove that any ideologically "Left" bent is marginal.
The Bible is pretty clear about the way people should treat one another. It is the Bible that has - sometimes - that "Left" bent you guys think you see projected by Catholic Social Doctrine.
In reality, it's a lot more complicated than that.
JMJ
Wow Jersey. Just when I'm about to give up hope on you, you start making sense.
I think you misunderstood my comments, thought. Liberal professors attempted to use Catholic social teachings to trash Boehner and say he is a bad Catholic.
My point is, and I prove it, that there is no moral equivalency in Catholic teaching between abortion (an intrinsically evil act), and voting to downsize government.
It's a spurious and politically motivated attack dressed up in religion.
I agree with you completely when you say...
"The Catholic institutions that formulate the Social Doctrine do not represent the "Left." The political bents run the global gamut."
Ignorance knows no bounds. Liberals are proof positive of this truism
O gosh I agree with AOW on this one Silver..ugh!
It never ceases to amaze me how so many people, especially none Christians, seem to think that Jesus was a liberal and that he would approve of the government taking by force, money from the people who work hard for it to give it to the "poor", when there is absolutely nothing in Holy Scripture to back that up.
As Christians, Jesus admonishes us to help the poor, but such help must come from the heart.
Just giving handouts to the poor does not help them in the long run, it just keeps them poor and dependent on others. If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish he will eat for a lifetime.
As you can see, there are just as many leftist morons in our churches, seminaries and Bible Schools.
>such help must come from the heart.
Exactly. The New Testament makes that very clear. It must be voluntary.
Christ admonished individuals to do all that they could to help the poor and needy. He also specifically condemned stealing. Stealing is taking something that belongs to someone else, without that person's authorization. (Coerced authorization and authorization under threat of violence or imprisonment are not really "authorization, and do not count, obviously.)
The destination of redistribution of the stolen property is irrelevant. It's still stealing.
Jersey? Who are you? And how did you get into Jersey's account?
"The right tried to delegitimize Bill Clinton...."
To be accurate, that slimeball did more than enough delegitimizing of himself all by his lonesome, what with all the whoring and lying with a straight face to the people he promised to lead and never, ever lie to. If leftards had any decency or shred of shame, they would stop trotting the old slimeball out every so often.
"Which is more empowering to the impoverished, a food stamp or a job and a bank account?"
Yes, but that's not the question leftards ask, what they ask is - Which is more empowering to us, a food stamp or a job and a bank account?
The only time leftards choose 'job' is when they're referring to the job of overseeing and administering the food stamps, not a real job.
"Wow Jersey. Just when I'm about to give up hope on you, you start making sense."
I told him to stop hogging the crack pipe and pass it along to the next leftard. They do listen sometimes you know. :)
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