{"id":206,"date":"2011-05-11T12:22:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/?p=206"},"modified":"2011-05-11T12:24:10","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:24:10","slug":"needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html","title":{"rendered":"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the first US Presidential debate of the season behind us campaign 2012 is underway in the United States. The issues presented in an election of such significance will immediately engage the entire Christian community. Putting aside the schizophrenic notion that we can ever separate the \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201csocial\u201d issues from everything else (which Christians, indeed all rational people must reject) the debates are underway concerning the so called \u201chot button\u201d issues. We must be a part of the process.<\/p>\n

At the top of the list of these \u201chot button\u201d issues are legalized abortion on demand (currently the law of the land), defending marriage – and the family and society founded upon it – and what obligations we have to the poor and how we should properly discharge them. Laced throughout is the underlying question of the nature and role of good government. While the topics lend themselves to many future articles, I want to put out a call for coherent Christians with a world view to step up and do what they must, participate in this campaign as though tomorrow depends upon it, because it truly does.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We need to reaffirm the coherence between faith and life, Gospel and culture which should be at the heart of a Christian World View. Yes it is true; we must avoid any error which views the political system as capable of building a heaven on earth. That kind of misguided utopianism is mistaken on many, many fronts. However, the other extreme of acting as though our social, economic and political participation does not matter, is even more dangerous. The biblical adage \u201cTo those to whom much is given, much more will be required\u201d should haunt us, in a good way. Christians are the ones most responsible for living coherently and doing what we can to infuse the values informed by our faith into the culture in order to elevate it and make it more human.<\/p>\n

This is an extremely important election. We can determine the outcome – if we act in a manner which is what the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called “morally coherent”. That phrase was used in an instruction released on the Feast of Christ the King in 2002 entitled a “Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life”.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/a>The clear instruction in the Doctrinal Note is reflected in the teaching of the\u00a0 “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” (See, e.g. #565-574) Here is an excerpt:\u00a0 “The social doctrine of the Church is not an intrusion into the government of individual countries. It is a question of the lay Catholic’s duty to be morally coherent, found within one’s conscience, which is one and indivisible.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c’There cannot be two parallel lives in their existence: on the one hand, the so-called ‘spiritual life’, with its values and demands; and on the other, the so-called ‘secular’ life, that is, life in a family, at work, in social responsibilities, in the responsibilities of public life and in culture. The branch, engrafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity.”<\/p>\n

How we are living our Christian faith in the midst of an increasingly hostile age? Are we defending those whose lives are at risk, such as our youngest neighbors in the first home of the whole human race, their mother\u2019s womb? The attacks on true marriage are increasing in their severity. We are being invited to compromise for our own convenience and tempted to accept the rulings of Judicial Oligarchs and Alchemists who think that they can change the nature of this institution by the stroke of a pen. How are we responding?<\/p>\n

The opponents of the fundamental human Right to life and the objective nature of true marriage have many collaborators in political office – some of whom are apostate Catholics and other Christians. They are beginning to wield the figurative sword of temporal power against us. The truths which are taught by the Sacred Scripture and the Church on these matters are also\u00a0revealed within the common patrimony of the Natural Law. They are\u00a0increasingly rejected in an age struggling under what was called by Pope Benedict XVI a “Dictatorship of Relativism.”<\/p>\n

The most egregious example among the\u00a0\u201chot button\u201d issues is the\u00a0truth concerning the dignity and inviolability of ever human life. The fundamental Right to Life is revealed\u00a0by the Natural Law and confirmed by medical science. No-one with any credibility any longer argues that the child in the womb is anything other than a human being, in development, as we all are. Medical science confirms what our conscience has long told us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u00a0reach in and operate on her when she is in the womb. The majority of States now prosecute the offender when a child in the womb\u00a0is killed in an automobile accident involving negligence. Also, make no mistake, intentional abortion has been rejected by the Christian Church from the first centuries. Any\u00a0claim to the contrary is a lie. Those Christians who intentionally or unintentionally defend the alleged \u201cright\u201d to reach within the sanctuary of the womb and kill that child are committing an egregious sin. The child in the womb is our neighbor and we all know it is wrong to intentionally kill any innocent neighbor.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sophistry of the \u201cfreedom of choice\u201d rhetoric cannot hide the objective truth of what happens with every procured abortion. The child has no choice. The real Right\u00a0at risk is the fundamental human Right to Life which is the foundation of our Positive Law. It is\u00a0revealed in the Natural Law which can be known through the exercise of reason. The so called \u201cabortion right\u201d was manufactured by a renegade court and carves out an entire category of human persons who can be killed without protection, thereby\u00a0depriving\u00a0them of that Right to Life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These two concerns,\u00a0life and marriage, are certainly not\u00a0even issues. They are the very ground of any discussion of building a truly just and human society. Because we believe that every single human person has dignity, at every age and stage and throughout the continuum of life, we must care about the poor. Because we recognize marriage and the family founded upon it as the first society, we have learned\u00a0how to build a healthy and propserous society within which we can all flourish.<\/p>\n

I have learned that long articles do not get read, so I will stop here. However, I must warn my readers to beware of the \u201creligious two step\u201d of those who oppose Christian\u00a0involvement in politics. It is easy to recognize. The new religious censors argue that our positions\u00a0defending life and marriage are \u201creligious\u201d and therefore must be kept out of the public debate. Such a misguided notion of the role of religious persons and religiously informed ideas in the public square is insidious, but I will save that for another article.<\/p>\n

Even more dangerous is the effort to dismiss a respect for human life and an insistence on defending true marriage with contrived sophistry masquerading as\u00a0civil\u00a0or human rights concerns. Our insistence upon\u00a0respecting the dignity of every human life is revealed in the Natural Law and knowable by reason. It is the basis of the criminal codes we have in free societies which outlaw killing and other related acts against innocent human persons. If the child in the womb is one of us, he or she must be protected against being killed. that’s the real civil and human rights issue!<\/p>\n

Similalry, marriage as capable of existing\u00a0only between a man and a woman, intended for life, and open to the bearing and rearing of children, is affirmed cross culturally and forms the basis of Western Civilization. Marriage and the family founded upon it is the first society, the first school, the first government, the first economy, the first school and the first mediating institution. Efforts to call other types of relationships – between heterosexual or homosexual paramours – the legal equivalent of a marriage – and\u00a0then require they be given the protection of the police power of the State – does not serve the common good. Our defense of marriage is not simply a \u201creligious\u201d position, it is\u00a0the truly just human and civil rights position.<\/p>\n

Our involvement in the upcoming political campaign and the election is not about simply protecting ourselves or our interests. It is about serving the true common good. What is needed, ow more than ever, are Coherent Christians who are responsible citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the first US Presidential debate of the season behind us campaign 2012 is underway in the United States. The issues presented in an election of such significance will immediately engage the entire Christian community. Putting aside the schizophrenic notion that we can ever separate the \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201csocial\u201d issues from everything else (which Christians,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,126,52,124,125,90],"tags":[128,13,85,127],"class_list":["post-206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-christian-vote","category-conversion","category-pro-life-2","category-pro-marriage","category-social-justice-2","tag-citizenship","tag-deacon-keith-fournier","tag-pro-life","tag-pro-marriage-2"],"yoast_head":"\nNeeded: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens - Catholic by Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens - Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the first US Presidential debate of the season behind us campaign 2012 is underway in the United States. The issues presented in an election of such significance will immediately engage the entire Christian community. Putting aside the schizophrenic notion that we can ever separate the \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201csocial\u201d issues from everything else (which Christians,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic by Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-11T16:22:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-11T16:24:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/05\/beliefnet-citizen-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Keith Fournier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens - Catholic by Choice","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens - Catholic by Choice","og_description":"With the first US Presidential debate of the season behind us campaign 2012 is underway in the United States. The issues presented in an election of such significance will immediately engage the entire Christian community. Putting aside the schizophrenic notion that we can ever separate the \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201csocial\u201d issues from everything else (which Christians,…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html","og_site_name":"Catholic by Choice","article_published_time":"2011-05-11T16:22:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-11T16:24:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/05\/beliefnet-citizen-1.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Keith Fournier","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html","name":"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens - Catholic by Choice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/05\/beliefnet-citizen-1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-05-11T16:22:08+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-11T16:24:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/909624e873e50d92ecdd9d770939b3ce"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/05\/beliefnet-citizen-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicbychoice\/files\/2011\/05\/beliefnet-citizen-1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/2011\/05\/needed-morally-coherent-christians-who-are-responsible-citizens.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Needed: Morally Coherent Christians who are Responsible Citizens"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/","name":"Catholic by Choice","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Deacon Keith Fournier","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/909624e873e50d92ecdd9d770939b3ce","name":"Deacon Keith Fournier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a31\/a31a3d7bdef162866a3fb2de941a42b3x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a31\/a31a3d7bdef162866a3fb2de941a42b3x96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Keith Fournier"},"description":"Deacon Keith Fournier is the Editor in Chief at Catholic Online, one of the largest integrated Catholic Media Networks on the World Wide Web. He is a widely recognized voice in the Catholic and broader Christian community. He is a member of the Clergy of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia. In his fifteenth year of service as an ordained Catholic Deacon, he is currently assigned to St Stephen Martyr Parish in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is also authorized to serve the Liturgy of the Greek Byzantine Melkite Catholic Church. Deacon Fournier and his wife Laurine have been married for 34 years and have five grown children and six grandchildren. Deacon Fournier holds his Bachelors degree in theology and philosophy from the Franciscan University of Steubenville (BA), his Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Theology from the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University (MTS), his Juris Doctor Law Degree Law (JD) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and is a PhD candidate in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America where he is currently writing his Doctoral Dissertation. Deacon Fournier also holds two honorary Doctorates, a Doctor of Laws (L.L.D. 1994,Honoris Causa) from St. Thomas University - Given for pro-life legal contributions, and a Doctor of Divinity Degree (D.D. 2005, Honoris Causa ) from the National Clergy Council and the Methodist Episcopal Church for his contributions to authentic ecumenical efforts toward Christian unity. Attorney Fournier is a constitutional lawyer who appeared as co-counsel in cases before the United States Supreme Court on Pro-Life, Religious Freedom and Pro-family issues. He served as the first Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice for seven years. He then served as a public policy activist for the causes of life, marriage and family issues for a number of years. He has extensive experience in nonprofit and for profit leadership. He has taught at the College level and served in Academic administration. He was a Dean of Students and the Dean of Evangelization at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Deacon Fournier is, above all, a communicator. His faith informs his passion to share the fullness of life which he has found in the heart of the Catholic Church. He has written eight books on matters of faith, family and the Christian life and is widely published in the broader Christian community on matters of life, faith, family, and cultural and social issues. He hosted two daily national radio programs, Purpose for Living, and Millennial Moment. He hosted several television series on Christian family and contemporary faith issues on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). He is actively involved in preaching and teaching in the Catholic Church and the broader Christian community. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, Deacon Fournier is the John Paul II Fellow and special counsel for the National Pro-Life Center in Washington, D.C. and is the president of Third Millennium, LLC, a communications and consulting company. He views his role on Beliefnet as an opportunity to share his Catholic Christian faith in what he calls a new areopagus. The areopagus is referred to in the 17th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian New Testament. Also called Mars Hill it was there where the Apostle Paul shared the Christian faith with the early Greeks in their temple.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/author\/deaconfournier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicbychoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}