Catholic Religious Beliefs

Millennials, backed by the rising Generation Z, have proved themselves to be the most secular demographic that the United States has ever borne witness to. On the political spectrum, too, there has been an increase in support from these generations for leftist viewpoints and alignments. This palpable change within the nation’s politics has raised concerns about the communion between religious people and the far left. Matthew Sitman’s article, “Against Moral Austerity: How Religion Can Revitalize the Left,” emphasizes a need for the conjoined forces of faith and liberalism to inspire political change. Written from the biased perspective of a devout Catholic, Sitman struggles to appeal to the secular end of the spectrum through a valid argument but provides enough supportive detail behind his ideas to create, at the very least, an acceptable

The government and the Catholic Church have not always had a great correspondence. Out of the many parties that have been created for the government, through time, the Democrats and the Republicans have taken precedence. The Democrats lean more to the liberal side of things, while the Republicans lean more towards the conservative side. The Democrat party is the oldest existing party, and called the ‘party of the people.’ The Republican Party came into the existence just before the Civil War, mostly because of their stance for the abolition of slavery and their candidate’s win, Abraham Lincoln. Both parties have their pros and cons, and both parties have their problems with the Catholic Church.

The Rome Catholic Church’s power increased instead of decreasing after the fall of the Roman Empire. One of the reason the Roman Catholic Church rose to power was because it always had the power during the Middle Ages in Roman if you wanted political control you had to go through the church to get it. The church used a hierarchy system based on priest, popes and priest, they had to take over the functions of government. The Pope became the strongest political leader in Western Europe. The Catholic Church states that all people are sinner and we needs God’s grace.

With regard to the Christian Democrat experience in twentieth century Continental Europe, integration of Christian Democrats into the political system lead to their moderation. The emergence of a Catholic political identity as an essential part of the moderate democratic center was neither automatic nor usual. Rather, it was an outcome contingent on conflicts between a variety of actors where democratization and mass politics was coming to maturation. Initially, the Church was hesitant about responding to sponsor Catholic political parties because the existence of separate parties would undermine the unchallenged state of the Church. However, under the influence of conservatism and modern democratic ideas, Catholic activists and the success

Nonetheless, anti- Catholicism still exists in different ways in modern times. While there are no longer legal prejudices that bar Catholics from holding government positions, the rhetoric still exists in every day culture. There are still individuals who are misled concerning Catholic doctrine. It is not considered inappropriate to make fun of Roman Catholic beliefs, unlike it is considered taboo to make fun of Jewish customs. For any type of insensitivity, this lies in the lack of understanding that many individuals have regarding what is truth and what is fiction and the false foundation that much of this rhetoric stands upon. For centuries Protestants were misled by the beliefs that a Catholic influence in America would introduce papal control. Today, this belief is largely overshadowed by generalized misinformation, rather than fear of domination. The government has taken measures to prevent righteous arson from fanatical groups, an improvement from the 1800’s, where the burning of Catholic churches and convents was rampant. Perhaps one aspect that has changed drastically since early American times is the amount of news media given to the pope. Currently Pope Francis is a world renowned icon who is giving a positive outlook to Catholicism with his “common man” to his homily and interaction. Pope Francis is dispelling the hierarchical stigma attached to the Catholic Church, which as illustrated, was the source of discrimination and oppression for Catholics

"I am not the Catholic candidate for president," said participants. "I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I 'm not talking about my church on public matters and the church does not speak for me. "

Comparing and contrasting the Catholic, Lutheran also the Reformed Orthodoxies, one will find numerous similarities as well as some differences. However, in early years, Lutheran also the Reformed Orthodoxy kept their line of communication open, reading each other work until Christian beliefs and how the three traditions view these issues took place. As a result, the Orthodoxy accept the books of the New Testament when it came to the composition of the Bible. And yet, the Protestant rejected the deuterocanonical as not being Scripture, but on the other hand, Roman Catholics sided with the orthodoxy on the validity of these books.

As a democratic country, a general way to gauge the feelings of the public is to analyze who the public elects to represent them. While Article VI of the Constitution mandates that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” an overwhelming amount of American presidents have been Christians. The two exceptions to this were Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, though theistic, remain religiously ambiguous. Within the Christian presidents, the majority of those have been Episcopalian and Presbyterianism. This is despite the fact that Episcopalianism and Presbyterianism make up a relatively low percentage of the overall self-identified Christian population. Contrastingly,

Despite the age of these systems, the Catholic Church continues to operate close to them, similar to when they were adopted. The misunderstanding and prejudice towards these systems cause many people to adopt anti-Catholic beliefs for contemporary issues in America. The democratic political system in America clashes with the hierarchical lineage that the Catholic Church possesses. The problem arises when anti-Catholics claim that Catholics are un-American because they follow a hierarchy, rather than the “American” system of democracy. The democratic system allows the people to vote for their leader to govern them, however, the Catholic leader, the Pope, is not chosen by the people of the Catholic Church. Un-American criticism continues with the debates and movements on Sexism and Feminism. As women’s roles are changed, the Catholic Church is keeping true to its origins by keeping the governing body, the priesthood, bishops, Cardinals, and the Pope, a completely male role. The Church is criticized by many as being sexist and by that, un-American, for not allowing ordination for women. “Many Americans / view the church’s ban on women’s ordination largely in terms of democratic principles, or ‘rights’ and representation’” (Martin). Anti-Catholics throw up these accusations of sexism without contemplating the true role of women in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis said in an interview “’Look, in the Church women are more important than men, because the church is a woman / The Church is the bride of Jesus Christ. And the Madonna is more important that popes and bishops and priests’” (Ruiz). This governing structure, as well as other beliefs of the Catholic Church, seem confusing or silly to post-enlightenment ideas. As human philosophy has developed after the Enlightenment, the Church has kept the doctrine the same. This has not caused the anti-Catholic community to criticize

A few years ago, when President Obama was President, Catholic Bishops came together to protest President Obama for “requiring health plans to cover common contraceptives without charge” this sort of thing was unheard of during Thomas Merton life span. Merton was at the forefront issues such as the peace moment, ending the social structure and race inequalities. He was also known for seeing the inner monk in everyone even if one wasn’t very religious. When he began to make noise on topics not being focused on by the church, the Catholic Church in a sense hushed his ideas by not acknowledging what he was preaching about. For most cases, the Catholic Church didn’t want to get involved in matters outside the church itself as for example when Merton was dealing with the civil rights issue. It wasn’t till later on, likely after his death, when then the Catholic Church entered the movement.

Americans are either more religiously involved or don’t see religion as an importance which can cause a drift between the two types of people, Putnam has stated, “Religious drop outs have come out at the expense of those whose religious involvement was modest but conventional” (Putnam 75). Influence of not participating in religious outings is spreading to those who are involved which can cause a dramatic decrease in the numbers of participants in religion. The involvement of Americans in religious participation also affect numbers of religions. Religious participation has increased in the catholic religion as Americans gravitate to the particular popular religion in America. It is seen that, “Protestant and Jewish congregations have lost market share in items of memberships, while Catholics and other religions have gained” (Putnam 75). This complication has arisen more due to the involvement of more immigrants migrating to the US and influencing the growing numbers of Catholics. Many of those immigrants are Latin American that makeup “one-quarter of American Catholics” (Putnam 76). However, numbers of participation in mass are still low even with all the popularity of the Catholic religion which demonstrates how religious participation isn’t important to some Americans. (add more

Over the years, the government of the American people has subtly and gradually seized control of the responsibilities and roles of the American family and the Christian church. Both families and the church are being completely taken over by the government as time passes by. Now the people of America are counting on the government, not their family and the church as it used to be.

Throughout time the relationship between church and state has been changing. Church and state should have absolute separation. In the middle ages, the pope was essentially the king, and that ended in drama between popes and actual kings, as well as the line between politics and religion being blurred. Church should not be involved in state because the church leader is then at significant risk of devaluing one or the other, and state should not be involved in church as it was during Charlemagne’s time.

We encourage Catholics to seek those resources that are authorized by their own bishops, their state Catholic conferences, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This statement is intended to reflect and complement, not substitute for, the ongoing teaching of bishops in our own dioceses and states. In light of these reflections and those of local bishops, we encourage Catholics throughout the United States to be active in the political process, particularly in these challenging times.

Why should one man have puissance over the way we sojourn our lives? The individual that I am referring to is Pope Francis. Personally, I feel that many people confer to the Pope as a god, giving him influence over our beliefs, as well as our lifestyle choices. As Catholics we are not allowed to partake in birth control practices, have an abortion, or participate in anything related to gay marriage. These are only a few issues that are part of a long list of unmentionables that are influences of the Catholic religion and Pope Francis. This very aspect for indefatigable individuals like myself that are nonjudgmental upon others. For this reason, I am going to attack Pope Francis indirectly, and the Catholic Church directly. My inspiration for this attack came for the film The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich. In this film, Colonel Tavington, seeking the location of the rebels, gathered the entire town of Pembroke into the church. After much hesitation, he got the information that he wanted. Colonel Tavington locked the doors and windows of the church and burned it down. Therefore, killing the entire town. This particular style of attack was inexpensive, and with minimal effort and easily executed. According to the Gallop Research Organization, 118 million people around the world go to church on Sunday. Catholics make up 24 percent of this number, thus making it an excellent target for a vulnerable attack.