by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon –
This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.
Since political elections normally deal with matters of policy, I do not normally make them the subject of pastoral concern. This year, however, the national elections in our country are not concerned simply with policies but with principles.
My first comment, I suppose, should address that difference.
About policies—most questions of political concern—we may expect some legitimate disagreements among Christians. Among these we should include questions about the application of civil punishments, the funding of public education, the tax code, the authority of federal agencies, this or that social program, and so forth. These matters, properly governed by prudence, leave much room for legitimate disagreements among Christians.
My reference to “principles,” however, pertains to matters on which there can be no legitimate disagreement among Christians. Let me mention three subjects of this sort, which are at issue in this year’s national elections. I do not believe there can be legitimate disagreement among Christians with respect to:
First, the origin of human rights. These, since they come directly from the hand of God, are determined by the moral law. That is to say, no political institution can give citizens a right to do something wrong—not the Constitution, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court.
the unborn child in the womb has an absolute right to be born
For example, even though the original Constitution, as well as acts of the Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, denied full legal equality to Americans held in bondage, no American has ever had a “right” to own slaves. Slavery in our country was always a violation of God-given human rights, and those responsible for that violation have all answered for it at the throne of God.
Second, the unborn child in the womb has an absolute right to be born. This right, which comes from God, is subject to no qualifying circumstances, including the conditions of the child’s conception and the health of the mother. One may not murder an unborn baby. A baby in the womb has the same right to life as its mother and her doctor.
Third, marriage is the union of a man and woman. This principle, rooted in God’s creating act, can be altered by no decision of any institution or agency of government. No one can be given a right to do a wrong. Whatever name is conferred upon it, state-sponsored sodomy is an abomination to the created order. It is a radical offense against the divine Logos.
Inasmuch as these three principles are manifestly at risk in this year’s elections, it is incumbent on all Christian pastors to bring them to the attention of the flock of God.
our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity
This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Centuries ago, Tertullian warned that political idolatry—the effort to confer on the State an authority that belongs only to God—is the worst and most dangerous sort. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.
Amen, Fr. Reardon! Stated with economy of words and clarity of thought — I’m going to pass this on to friends.
If I could offer a fourth “principle”: the right to Free Exercise of Religion, by which I mean that the Church must have the liberty to carry ou Her mission.
This may be a subset of your first point — that our human rights ultimately come from God, not from Congress, the Court, or the Constitution — but I think special mention must be made of it. Many are willing to concede (some) individual rights of conscience (perhaps because they misconstrue conscience as a preference, and they value preference above all!) , but at the same time deny that institutions also have rights. Yet institutions have inherent duties and thus rights as well, primarily, I would say, the institutions of the family (based on the marriage of a man and a woman), and the Church.
The family and the Church predate the State by millennia. They are foundational to society; they are prior to the State both temporally and logically; they are not creatures of the State, nor are they vassals. Their liberties and responsibilities from from God; they State can recognize them, but can neither usurp, diminish, not revoke them.
Take a look at the nasty racist remarks in Obama’s books against whites. Do you still want to vote for him???:
Obama’s books:
In a sane world, having the following comments out in print via Obama’s racist books would have knocked him out of the running for president of the United States.(they would have crucified a white candidate for far less)
From Dreams from My Father,“ I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER’S RACE”. Barack Hussein Obama
From ‘Dreams from my Father’,The emotion between the races could never be pure, even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, THE OTHER RACE (WHITE) WOULD ALWAYS REMAIN JUST THAT: MENACING, ALIEN, AND APART.” Barack Hussein Obama
From Dreams from My Father:“THAT HATE HADN’T GONE” he wrote, BLAMING “WHITE PEOPLE — some CRUEL, some IGNORANT, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives.” Barack Hussein Obama
From ‘Dreams from My Father’,“There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs,” he wrote.“It remained necessary to prove which side you were on,to show your LOYALTY TO THE BLACK MASSES, TO STRIKE OUT and name names” Barack Hussein Obama
“Dreams From My Father,” page 101 (paperback, ISBN 978-1-4000-8277-3
Dreams From My Father: To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The MARXIST PROFESSORS and structural feminists“Dreams From My Father,” pages 99-100
Then there is his love of Islam:
Quote from Barack Obama’s book, Dreams Of My Father:
“THE PERSON WHO MADE ME PROUDEST OF ALL, THOUGH, WAS MY [half brother], ROY..HE CONVERTED TO ISLAM”.
From ‘Dreams of my Father’,“IN INDONESIA, I SPEND TWO YEARS AT A MUSLIM SCHOOL”“..I STUDIED THE KORAN..”
From ‘Audacity of Hope:“LOLO (Obama’s step father) FOLLOWED ISLAM….”I LOOKED TO LOLO FOR GUIDANCE”.
From ‘The Audacity Of Hope,“I WILL STAND WITH THEM (MUSLIMS) SHOULD THE POLITICAL WINDS OF WAR SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION..”
.
From The Audacity Of Hope,“WE ARE NO LONGER JUST A CHRISTIAN NATION, we are also a Jewish nation, a MUSLIM NATION, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.”
__________
Don’t believe it? Think these comments taken ‘out of context’? Here it all here in his own works;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6zM5ldO35A
__________
Still need convincing?
Race: http://theobamafile.com/obamarace.htm