The Francis Effect

by JASmius



Second look at separation of church and state?:

Roman Catholic leaders in the early voting state of Iowa implored candidates for president Thursday to take up Pope Francis' call for "profound political courage" by focusing their campaigns as much on improving the environment and income inequality as they have on opposing gay marriage and abortion in past elections.

It takes "courage" to ideologically surrender, become useless barnacles on the Ready-For-Hillary Express, and otherwise all-around commit political suicide?  Most everyone else would call that rank foolishness.

The vocal pivot from such traditional social issues marks the first time U.S. Catholic bishops have publicly asked those seeking the White House to heed the admonitions of Francis' June encyclical, said Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines.

In Francis' major teaching document, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics called for a "sweeping revolution" to correct a "structurally perverse" economic system that allows the rich to exploit the poor and has turned the Earth into an "immense pile of filth."

"These are going to be difficult decisions that have to be made," said the Reverend Bud Grant of Davenport, joined at a news conference by bishops from central and eastern Iowa. "Politicians have to have the courage to do the right thing, and not necessarily the politically expedient thing."

Given that the "thing" they parrotedly urge is both the wrong thing and, in The Age Of The One and the Red Pope, anything but "politically expedient," these shouldn't be difficult decisions at all, other than how to diplomatically tell Francis to go sit on Vatican spire.  Besides, since when did Catholic Democrat pols ever heed the moral issue entreaties against abortion and sodomarriage of John Paul II and Benedict XVI?  Blowing off their "holy father" didn't seem to be a "difficult decision" for any of them.

The push from bishops threatens to disrupt the historically reliable alliance of evangelical Christians and conservative Roman Catholic voters, putting pressure on Republicans who have leaned on their religious faith to guide them on social issues. 

It will also focus attention on how the six Roman Catholics seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination will wrestle with a pope's teachings on economics and climate change that clash with traditional Republican ideology. [emphasis added]

That, my friends, is the name of the game, and the commie-Pope's core mission: To use the Catholic Church to force the Obamunist agenda on conservative Catholics, office-seekers and rank & file, and drive a great big wedge in the conservative coalition (at minimum).  It also gives the lie to the false taunt lefties have hurled at evangelicals for years about our wanting to impose a "theocracy" in order to "force our values on everybody else".  The Francis Effect illustrates spectacularly and for all time that libs have no problem at all mixing church and state, so long as it's their values that get shoved down our throats.  Or yet another case of trademark leftwingnut psychological projection.

It also illustrates why the establishment clause was included in the First Amendment: not to protect the state from the church, but to protect the church from the state.  For that's what this is, a communist extremist masquerading in white robes and a big, funny hat using the Vatican to impose a leftist political agenda that has nothing whatsodamn ever to do with Christian teachings or biblical doctrine on GOP Catholics who do not, and are perfectly free not to, agree with it.

Francis is effectively saying that it is an unforgivable sin to be a conservative Republican, and all GOP Catholics should accordingly repent and become Democrats,  Which should tell Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio and whomever else in the Republican presidential field just how optional a papal command this "thing" really is.