"Freedom is a system based on courage"
Book of the month club strongly recommends:
"Render Unto Ceasar - Serving the Nation by Living Our
Catholic Beliefs on Political Life " by Charles J. Chaput,
Archbishop of Denver
"...our public life must be considered within the context of its
Christian roots. American democracy does not asks its citizens to
put aside their deeply held moral and religious beliefs for the sake
of public policy. In fact, it requires exactly the opposite.
As the nation's founders knew very well, people are fallible. The
majority of voters, as history has shown again and again, can be
uninformed, misinformed, biased, or simply wrong. Thus, to
survive, American democracy depends on an engaged citizenry ---
people of character, including religious believers, fighting for their
beliefs in the public square, respectfully but vigorously and
without apology. Anything less is bad citizenship and a form of theft
from the nation's health. Or as the author suggests: Good manners
are not an excuse for political cowardice.
American Catholics and other persons of good heart are part of a
struggle for our nation's future...Our choices, including our political
choices, matter. ..We can't claim to personally believe in the
sanctity of the human person and then act in our public policies as
if we don't. We can't separate our private convictions from our
public actions without diminishing both."
