Nonpartisan Voting Guide For November
Written on: July 7, 2020
Voting is a privilege, but informed voting is a moral imperative and given the many critical issues facing us today it isn’t easy to keep well informed. Faith in Public Life and Interfaith Power & Light produced a nonpartisan voter reflection guide that includes all the current major issues. It can be downloaded using the link in the message below.
We are also sharing a study guide for voting from Region 7 (Michigan and Indiana) of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). This guide is focused on the connected issues of Racism, Migration and the Climate Crisis. It is not meant to be a comprehensive analysis of all major issues in the upcoming elections, but is focused on broad issues that affect everyone.
I strongly urge you to access it and while November seems a long way off, we need this time to study the issues and hear where the candidates stand on them.
Thanks for all you are doing to preserve our Judeo/Christian values in the public arena.
Sister Diane
FROM LCWR- REGION 7: We are heartbroken by the myriad ways our one human family and Earth, our common home, suffer from disconnection, indifference, violence, and fear in the face of racism, migration, and climate crisis. Responding to God who loves all of creation into being, we recommit ourselves to create communion and examine root causes of injustice. We particularly focus on the intersection of racism, migration, and climate crisis. Click here to read and print the guide
Thank you for your interest in Democracy, Values and the 2020 Election, the voter reflection guide from Faith in Public Life and Interfaith Power & Light. You can download it here.
The nonpartisan guide offers timely sections that address urgent moral issues at stake in this election and beyond. Topics include justice for immigrants, economic dignity, care for creation and climate change, racism and criminal justice reform, democracy and voting rights, health care and the coronavirus pandemic, and global peacebuilding. Reflection questions are included to help spark conversation in your faith communities and to help prime questions addressed to candidates running for office.
I’d love to hear how you are using the guide – please keep in touch!
In faith,
Rev. Jennifer Butler
CEO, Faith in Public Life
4 thoughts on “Nonpartisan Voting Guide For November”
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I am very much aware of Joe Biden’s position on abortion. I hope you are aware that we are not telling you who to vote for, just to be an informed voter. In his apostolic exhortation “Rejoice and be glad”, Pope Francis warns against elevating any single social issue, including abortion, above all others. It’s important to remember that there is no perfect candidate, hence the wisdom to see the whole of what is at stake. Then after the election, remain actively involved in the issues that need changing.
No you are not telling anyone how to vote. You are, however, taking Pope Francis’ remarks out of context to support the notion that there are other issues of equal or greater importance than the right to life. The USCCB has stated that Catholics must seek to have an informed conscience when voting. They have further stated: “There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These are called “intrinsically evil” actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia. In our nation, “abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others” (Living the Gospel of Life, no. 5). It is a mistake with grave moral consequences to treat the destruction of innocent human life merely as a matter of individual choice. A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed.” Pope Francis has siad: “It is not ‘progressive’ to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life…” Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium #213-214.
The right to life is the most fundamental right that any human being has, without that right there is nothing else!
Dear Georgia,
Thank you for your comment regarding our Nonpartisan Voting Guide for November. I appreciate your passionate stand against abortion and euthanasia. I, too, am committed to these clearly sinful issues. However, if you read everything Pope Francis has written on the sanctity of life, I think you would understand that I did not take his words out of context. In fact, I think you would find that he is very strong in saying that all life issues are equally sacred. In a world as complex as ours, we must see how interconnected all life is. The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin gave us the metaphor of a seamless garment to help us understand that reality. It just so happens that this week’s election reflection from LCWR, “Stitching a Seamless Garment” addresses that. It’s a reflection by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago about the importance of considering all the issues that threaten human life and dignity.
I hope you find the reflection interesting and helpful. And again thanks for your commitment to life.
Sincerely,
Sister Diane Bardol, GNSH
Social Justice Coordinator
Just remember, Joe Biden support abortion. How can any Catholic support his candidacy?