First of all: I am very much aware that Church teaching is not determined or adjusted by polls and trends.
Second: I'm not suggesting that Church teaching ought to be determined or adjusted in light of the day's conventional wisdom.
Third: information such as that provided by a recent Gallup poll can be very helpful in understanding where Catholics stand on issues and for facing the challenges those stands present for the Church.
With all of that in mind... check out this entry at Articles of Faith.
And here's a link to the Gallup page.
-ConcordPastor
Thank you for posting this - plus what a great graphic. You do have a gift with the visuals!
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, I have been in numerous conversations about this both in life and on line.
More and more I find myself really loathing definitions such as conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, etc etc.
We end up putting each other, often quite unintentionally, into corners that are hard to break out from.
Sorry- wandering off topic.
People always think I am very "liberal" because in many ways I am. Then they become shocked when I reveal a fuller spectrum of my own beliefs, my values. The same thing happens in reverse as well. My label is Catholic and I like to leave it at that.
How can we come together and literally re-member the Body of Christ if we are busy defining ourselves as "not the other."
As for the teachings in the survey, I will add this... Some how real life has a way of inserting itself into one's belief system. I just know too many situations that look one way to a teaching and another way in the heart of intimate life and love.
Fran
Ok, I have to take the bait and get the discussion going.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how comfortable the world is with the basic question that was asked. "Morally acceptable" is an interesting survey question. At the very least it cuts directly against our politically correct environmental norms. In a world where the man who runs the IRS can “forget” to pay taxes for three years, partial birth abortion is a "personal judgment call" and most human failures are just passed by as "innocent mistakes", should we expect people to be comfortable saying anything is "immoral"?
The interesting part is that a majority of non-church going folk seem to find almost nothing immoral. Although I suspect if they had added SUVs to the list, that might have gotten 50%+ against it. We seem to care more about gas mileage as a social issue than we do marital fidelity or 16 year olds having babies. I guess that is the dominant culture we seem to be evolving to, no one is supposed to judge anyone’s behavior anymore. Morals are an old fashioned concept that should be looked down upon as pejorative judgments of and out dated holier-than-thou crowd.
Sometimes I just wonder where we are going. I am hardly a hard-core old school guy. I am still short of half way in this journey (I hope). I have broken my share of rules in my day. But I always knew it was wrong. I always knew my weak rationalizations were just that, weak. Have we really gotten to the point that even the church going Catholics have given up their standards on such basic ideas of morality?
I wonder where we go as our world moves ever so quickly to rely on laws and tax codes and social threats as ways of “controlling” the society. Is that really better than that old way, where shared definitions of right and wrong, morality, and yes, God lead the way?
Ok, maybe that will get a couple comments going.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteOutstanding comment!
ken- you said, "...no one is supposed to judge anyone's behavior anymore."
ReplyDeletewell, no one should ever (or should have ever) judge anyone else. we should all be concerned with ourselves- and our own personal relationship with God.
the problem is- people judge eachother TOO MUCH.
yes, I am talking quite generally here, but I don't need to go into details...
and, I agreed with some of and respected your comment also, Ken.
Michelle, if no one ever judged anyone's behavior - the world would be chaotic. There have to be rules in a society. There has to such things as "morals", and rules to live by that don't hurt other people. People can't and shouldn't be just concerned with themselves and their relationship with God. We need to look and care about what's going on around us. When people do hurt people, there is a need for judgement. Just as the case in todays paper about the guy who sexually abused the 6 year old boy in the library. The "judge" sent him to prison for a very long time and he will never be allowed near children. A good judgement call for someone who did not follow the rules of not hurting others ...
ReplyDeletewhen I said that no one should judge anyone else I was speaking of in the ways people judge others that HURT them... because that does happen- a lot.
ReplyDeleteI guess I wasn't clear about that, and I'm sorry, but I was trying to not let my personal experiences "get in the way".
I am MORE than aware of what it is like to be hurt, substantially, and abused, in more ways than one.
I wanted to try and respond- and participate- in discussions...
finding ways and places to do this is very difficult.
I regret commenting because it is extremely difficult for me to explain in words how I feel and communicate it effectively to others, and therefore be PART OF a discussion or anything...
ConcordPastor: I hope you will publish this comment; I don't believe I was disrespectful or whatever to anyone else and I just wanted to try to express how I feel right now.
thank you.
...one more thing: (there's that "just" word again) I did not say that people shouldn't JUST be concerned with themselves... (I didn't use the word "JUST")
ReplyDeleteI was simply saying that they should look at themselves and their own actions, etc., because I believe that is not done enough.
A lot of talk about judging, but nobody is talking about the results of the survey.
ReplyDeleteThe issue where Catholics agree most with church teachings is abortion. Even on this paramount issue 1 in 4 church-going Catholics (CC) still think it’s morally acceptable to abort a baby. Slightly more than half nonregular church-going Catholics (NC) think it’s morally acceptable. Overall, two out of 5 Catholics think abortion is morally acceptable. That’s the same as non-Catholics. It’s interesting that twice as many CCs think it is morally acceptable to have a baby outside marriage than to abort the baby.
If life is so sacred, as the church teaches, why do half the CCs and 67% of NCs think the death penalty is morally acceptable? I don't agree with withholding the Eucharist from anyone. But, if some bishops want to withhold the Eucharist from pro-choice politicians, shouldn’t they also withhold it from pro-death penalty and pro-war politicians? The bishops have put so much more emphasis on abortion and gay marriage than they have on the death penalty and the war. Why?
The next closest area of agreement with church teachings is on homosexual relations where 4 out of 10 CCs think’s it’s morally acceptable. Maybe these are the people who are gay, or have gay children. Interesting that just more than half CCs think sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable. I wonder why pre-marital sex would be more acceptable for straight couples than gay couples?
6 out of 10 NCs think homosexual relations are morally acceptable. But almost 8 out of 10 NCs think straight pre-marital sex is acceptable. That gap is twice as big as the CCs.
The issues where Catholics disagree with church teaching the most are gambling, (especially appropriate during March Madness and the Super Bowl) divorce, and straight pre-marital sex. They are followed closely by stem cell research. Nonchurchgoing non-Catholics feel pretty much the same about the moral acceptability of these issues.
What does that say about Catholics? Maybe we’re not as different as we think.
Michelle - don't worry, it is just a discussion, no need to feel bad about sharing your perspective.
ReplyDeleteYour comment made me think of the old rule "hate the sin, love the sinner". I think we could use more of both parts of that old rule.
Michael - I guess you raise the real question, if Catholics "aren't so different", despite their self identified status as Catholics, then what does it mean to be Catholic?
People can think whatever they want, and use any personal label they want, live and let live. But if you say your are a Democrat and that you believe in lower taxes, limited government, Antonin Scalia, pro-life, anti-unions, individual freedom, and you voted for W, twice, it might make the neighbor holding an Obama sign think you weren't really a Democrat.