Catholic Social Teaching - Are Catholics Liberal or Conservative?

Well, I guess it's time to have a somewhat serious blog post. I have wanted a place to think about this topic for a while, and I guess this is as good a place as any.

I really like this article written by Fr. Francis Belanger - who actually happens to be one of the priests who served at the local church where I used to go to mass while living in Charlottesville. I have struggled for years to fit my political perspective into a particular category, and I think that this article really helped me understand why it doesn't really fit. The vast majority of my political beliefs align with those of the Church. I have developed some political beliefs that are liberal and some that are conservative. It sort of bothers me that both of these general terms are rather fluid and sort of arbitrary, changing with the times.

Although I may not agree with everything that libertarians believe, I find it to be a very legitimate/strong foundation to have something specific and concrete, like the Constitution, as the basis for one's political stance. I don't really think that liberals or conservatives can make that claim about anything - they have no real foundation to anchor their beliefs. I guess this could be considered a good thing, because as society progresses the whole political spectrum from right to left can change with the culture. But what I am really searching for is a political ideology that is completely time-independent and culture-independent. I would like to believe that my beliefs are constant. Slavery and genocide, for instance, are wrong no matter what culture or time you happen to be living in. Social justice is something we should always fight for, and we should always recognize the dignity of every human being. Those ideas are part of my political ideology, and those will not change. That is probably also related to why I don't have much of an opinion when it comes to general political beliefs on economic policy. I think that generally we should try to help the financially disadvantaged people who are suffering in this world, but I don't necessarily have an opinion on the best way to handle a complex economic situation, because I think that the best solution could in all likelihood change with the particular situation that the country is in. I'm not an economist, and I don't pretend to be well-versed enough in economics to have a strong opinion on it after one macroeconomics class as an undergrad.

So I'm sure that the beginning of this post in particular could make some people upset because it seems like I should separate my political opinions from my religious ones. I'd like to delve into this topic a bit. My first point is that the vast majority of my political beliefs were developed before I even converted to Catholicism, so really I don't think it can be argued very strongly that I only have these opinions because of my religious perspective, and therefore should keep my opinions out of the political realm. But then again, I'm sure there are many lifelong Catholics who could not say that. This is where I will bring up a nice Wikipedia article about the concept of the separation of church and state. So we all know how much we Americans love Thomas Jefferson. Here is his original quote about the topic:

"...I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

We all have the right to interpret this quote in our own way, but I really don't believe that Jefferson's original intention was to argue that we should not use our religious beliefs as a guideline for what we hold to be our political stance. In most situations, using your religious beliefs to guide your political ones doesn't a) make a law respecting an establishment of religion, or b) prohibit the free exercise of religion, which are the two situations that Jefferson describes as separating church and state. There are a few extreme circumstances where this would be the case, like if your religious beliefs made you decide that we should all live under Shari'a law and make the government a theocracy, but that perspective is not akin to the ones I am referring to. I think the important distinction/tricky part is figuring out which beliefs are common to every situation and all people, not matter what their particular religion is. Let's say that your religious beliefs tell you that murder is wrong. Just because you came to that conclusion in concert with your religious perspective doesn't necessitate that it should stay out of the political and legal realm. That is why I don't believe that we can make that argument about any religious belief in particular, unless it clearly conflicts specifically with a) or b), above. Religious perspectives cannot be left out of politics, because for many people (whether we like it or not) religion is the foundation of everything for them, and we should not leave anyone out of political discourse.

After a very long post (sorry about that)... the conclusion I have come to is that Catholic social teaching (and what I strive for with my political opinion) has the goal of providing this same kind of foundation that I think libertarians have, just with a basic moral standard rather than a document like the Constitution. Many people make the complaint that the Church never changes its official position on anything to meet the way we live in society today, but why should it? The point is for our moral/religious perspective (and thus our political ones) to be an unwavering backbone that never becomes antiquated - a moral opinion that transcends the generations.