Papal Politics

I read a wonderful Op-Ed the other day that really gave a voice to what I think are now my basic political opinions. The article itself was how American conservatives and liberals always fight over which side the last papal encyclical helps politically. He summarizes the absurdity that ensues as follows:

"These arguments never seem to go anywhere. When a pope criticizes legalized abortion, liberal Catholics nod and say that yes, they agree, it’s a terrible tragedy ... but of course they can’t impose their religious values on a secular society. When a pope endorses the redistribution of wealth, conservative Catholics stroke their chins and say that yes, they agree, society needs a safety net ... but of course they’re duty-bound to oppose the tyranny of big government. And when the debate isn’t going their way, left and right both fall back on flaccid rhetoric about how the papal message “transcends politics,” and shouldn’t be turned to any partisan purpose."

What I like about the Vatican is that they still believe the Church has something to say about all of life. American liberal Christians have tended to say that the Church should keep out of our personal lives, while conservative Christians say it should keep out of our economics.

I think this is because in the American political spectrum, all political ideas take shape around some conception of universal freedom--all of us Americans are remarkably similar in that way. The left and the right just happen to formulate opposite views of what freedom is.

In my opinion, these opposing views of freedom are equally incoherent. On the left, you have these very rigorous demands placed on society regarding our treatment of the environment; but when it comes to bioethical issues, freedom of choice is held sacred.

On the right, I suppose it's just the opposite. On bioethical issues, conservatives decry the moral relativism of liberals; yet when it comes to the environment (among other issues), they say just leave it to the free market.

I like the pope's philosophy, because it seems to have an expansive view of the sacred--human life is sacred, the world is sacred, and therefore we need to work to create a social order that respects both human life and the world that we use for our benefit.

I think this translates to a sound, coherent philosophy of politics, one which may contradict the Republicans or the Democrats, depending on which bullet point you've hit in the somewhat arbitrary list of positions in each party platform.

Not that I'm all that familiar with the particulars of the Caritas in Veritate (it's very long), but I just know that philosophically, I'd rather take the pope's route than that of Republicans or Democrats.

Everyone in this country is suspicious of the Church giving political opinions--"separation of Church and state" and all that--but the truth is, if the Church seeks diligently to give serious thought to a range of important issues and express opinions intelligently, people will listen.

There are two opposite but equally fatal approaches that the Church has taken to politics. One is not to say anything, because somehow God is too high for politics. The other is to express opinions dogmatically, as if the issues need no further analysis.

We can do better as Christians to make our political opinions conform more to a Christ-centered view of the world, and to express our opinions sensitively and intelligently. We may or may not start by listening to the pope; I just think his views show that our current political spectrum is not the only way to think about politics.

Disclaimer: No, I'm not Catholic, I just happen to line up with the Vatican on certain political opinions.