How Would JC Vote ?

September 27, 2012 6:17 PM

My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues Controversial Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield,IL is taking a public stand against voting Democratic due to the party's stance on abortion and gay rights. He states, “My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding ‘political’ and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to these platform positions that promote serious sins.”

Bishop Paprocki commentary comes at a time when a group of Evangelical ministers are planning to ignore IRS rules prohibiting such speech from tax-exempt religious organization and speak out against voting Democratic as well.

Previously , Bishop Paprocki has spoken out regarding child abuse lawsuits against the Church stating, " We must also use our religious discernment to recognize that the principal force behind these attacks is none other than the devil.”

And he has been known to engage in a bit of controversy regarding the Muslim faith as well.

posted by Podkayne of Pasadena (8 comments total)

That's it. When I become Queen, tax exemption for religious institutions will disappear, unless they they meet 501(c)(3) standards and be subject to to random and not infrequent audits.

[Fact: I don't actually know what reporting churches do and whether they get audited, but I suspect it's far less than the average nonprofit and am righteously indignant in my assumption.]
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 6:22 PM on September 27, 2012

Wow -- turns out it really is a bad idea to mix Paprocki and Koch.
posted by escabeche at 6:22 PM on September 27, 2012 [18 favorites]

Well, if we take his words at face value he is absolutely right. These ARE moral issues for many of us.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 6:22 PM on September 27, 2012

Wow, god is such a bigot.
posted by found missing at 6:23 PM on September 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

...taking a public stand against voting Democratic due to the party's stance on abortion and gay rights.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. -- Mark 12:28-31

Thus endeth the lesson.
posted by DU at 6:25 PM on September 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh, fuck off. Go ahead and take a moral stand on the Republican party's attitude to poverty, then. You're the Catholic Church, you're supposed to care about that, I think.
posted by gaspode at 6:32 PM on September 27, 2012

Wake me up when they publish letters from the nuns who see firsthand every day how Being A Good Catholic's not all that fucking simple.
posted by delfin at 6:34 PM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

He can't prove God exists, or even that his side is the moral one, that is merely his opinion. He can't even prove that he is morally competent to speak for God, therefore he may be in total error. This removes any obligations lent to his own opinion that he is morally competent in the first place.
posted by Brian B. at 6:36 PM on September 27, 2012