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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