Thursday, February 24, 2011

What must voters reject


The Catholic Voice newspaper carries an excellent ‘Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics’ in its current issue (No. 50, 20 February – 5 March 2011).  Part of the Guide consists of a list of ‘Five Non-Negotiables’ in relation to next Friday’s General Election.  
   
The five non-negotiables are: Abortion; Euthanasia; Embryonic Stem Cell Research; Human Cloning; Homosexual ‘Marriage’.
A Catholic may not vote for a candidate, or a party, that supports any of the above. 

The Guide tells us that Catholics have a moral obligation to promote the common good through the exercise of their voting privileges, but voting must not be arbitrary.  ‘A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.’