I've talked about the pastor at my Roman Catholic parish here before. He's interesting in that he seems to be an out an out lefty on most issues, poverty and peace especially, and he often prays for "people discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation" during the public part of the prayer of the faithful, and once he faced down a jerk yelling about gay marriage. But he seems to be a one issue Republican voter, that issue being abortion. About a month ago he had this long sermon about how important the war is as an issue, and poverty, but how we needed first to have a "culture of life." It was like watching him struggle with his own personal political demons in public, but he didn't tell us who to vote for. Well, apparently he doesn't like it when other people tell us who to vote for either.
This weekend, he criticized what he termed a "handful" of bishops who were claiming it was a sin to vote Democrat. He talked about the importance of the abortion issue and Roe v. Wade, but noted that studies show the abortions decrease when there are certain social programs in place. He stopped short of citing the study that shows abortions increased under Bush, but I bet he read it. Ultimately he said we should vote with Christian values in mind, but it was up to each of us and our own consciences to determine what candidates would do the best job of promoting those values.
Interestingly, he put the whole thing in the context of the Gospel, which was about the Pharisee and tax collector. Basically, the Pharisee prays "thanks God, for making me great, and not a normal crappy sinner like the tax collector" and the tax collector beats his breast and prays "I know I'm a sinner, forgive me, etc." Naturally, the tax collector gets the nod from Jesus. Anyway, the way my pastor talked about it, he said the Pharisee has words but not works, followed the letter of the law, not the spirit. The way he was talking, he seemed to be making a parallel between the Pharisee and the Anti-Roe people who don't actually accomplish anything, but are sure proud of themselves for their rhetoric. Although, it wasn't clear, and I could have been reading into it.
I don't know how interesting this will be to anyone. It certainly didn't change my vote, which I mailed in awhile ago. (It didn't even really make me feel any better about having voted for Kerry, though it did make me feel better about my Church, or at least my parish.) I don't even think it means my pastor changed his vote or anything. But in the context of how this election plays out in churches, I do think it's interesting, and I would love it if other people had stories as well.