Watch first, and then I'll comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVN2MMuiedI
Sounds like a slam dunk doesn't it?
The video implies three things.
1. Socialism is Satanic
2. Mainstream Catholic social teaching is pro-capitalist and anti-socialistic
3. In order for Obama to push his Satanic socialist agenda, he has to bypass the leadership of the Catholic Church and build alliances with far-left fringe minority groups within the Catholic church.
As to the first suggestion, that socialism is Satanic, I'll let the reader decide that, but before we jump to the conclusion that premise two and three are gospel truth, take a look at this article in USA today about the current Pope Benedict's economic sympathies.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Benedict writes, "The market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak."
The encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) is a theologically dense explication of Catholic social teaching that draws heavily from earlier popes, particularly PaulVI's critique of capitalism 42 years ago. And echoing his predecessor John Paul II, Benedict says, "every economic decision has a moral consequence."
Italics emhasis mine.
Here's another quote from the article:
The pope's views here are "to the left of Obama in terms of economic policy," particularly in calls for redistribution of wealth, says political scientist Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Again, italics emphasis mine.
Now here are the Pope's own words according to his latest encyclical on economic policy.
According to the encyclical:
•Labor must be safeguarded after years of rampant market forces leaving citizens powerless in the face of "new and old risks" and without effective trade union protections.
•Elimination of world hunger is essential for "safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet," and the problem is not resources but their inequitable distribution. (italics emphasis mine)
•The environment is "God's gift to everyone" and we have a "grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations" in good condition, says Benedict. He laments, "how many natural resources are squandered by wars!"
My point here is not to deify socialism, but to say that Christians shouldn't be propagators of false hood. A lot of Christians will watch this video and buy into it hook, line, and sinker not because not because it's rooted in truth, but because they want to believe it's true. They want to believe that the Pope agrees with them so much that they'll never bother to check the facts to see if he actually does. Of course, there are some significant differences between the Pope and Obama on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. But this whole idea that Obama's calls for "redistribution of wealth" is foreign to Catholic social teaching is patently false.
If premise two and three are true, apparently the Pope hasn't received the memo.
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4 comments:
You are agonizingly close to the truth, but you are overlooking the coercive force of government versus the appeal of Jesus for the strong to care for and protect the weak. The video is correct.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment. I'm sure a lot of my readers will agree with you, but the problem is you're responding to a point that I didn't make. In the post, I didn't actually make a judgment on socialism. I let the reader determine that. Read the post again to see if I'm telling the truth.
The point I did make however, is that the video is wrong in making the claim that Obama's economics go against mainstream Catholic social teaching. The video portrays the Catholic church as the defender of capitalism and opposed to anything that smells like socialism. In light of the Pope's recent encyclical, that claim is patently false.
Aaron, of course everyone would like to see world peace and that everyone, no matter where they lived, would have plenty to eat. And that we, all people, would have the same access to health care that everyone has regardless of our financial status.
And redistribution of wealth is nothing more than than taking from those that have and giving to those that have not. Those that have not can continue to live off of the government programs that are available to them.
There will always be the rich, the middle class, and the poor. Always. Until the second coming of Christ. The health care system of the United States of America is the best in the world. The United States of America is the greatest nation on earth and we have nothing to apologize for.
Under the government run health care, abortions would be paid for by the government. We, the people, would be paying for killing innocent unborn human beings. Christian, Catholic hospitals would be forced to perform abortions because they would be paid by the government. And the conscience clause would be eliminated.
In other words, because of government run health care, you, as a physician, would be forced to perform an abortion, if it was requested by the patient.
I am tired of Obama trying to shove his socialist agenda on to the American people.
Thank you Tom for your comments. My point still remains. The video was dishonest in that it misrepresented Catholic social teaching. That's all I was saying in the post. The merits of socialism verses capitalism belong to another post.
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