As the United States approaches the 2024 presidential election, Father Dave welcomes back friend of the show and ethicist Dr. Charlie Camosy to discuss forming one’s conscience ahead of voting. His latest article for “The Atlantic” is called, “Pro-life Voters Are Politically Homeless.”
Father Dave begins, “Many people listening can remember a time in their lives when politics was not so all-consuming and so completely polarized — where people would often have dinner or go on vacation with people that they are pretty sure are voting for a different candidate, and it just doesn’t seem like it’s even possible anymore.”
Dr. Camosy responds, “I’d also add that those sitting next to you at church could definitely be somebody who would have voted for a different candidate or be of a different party. It was almost even expected that that was the case, because we had this sense that what drew us together in those pews in front of the Holy Eucharist was far more important and far more central and foundational than what politically divided us.”
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“For many, something has replaced the Church, their God, even,” he continues. “I joke with people that [some are] functional polytheists.They have their Christian God, but then they also have their political God. They have their economic God. They have themselves, at times, as their own God. But Christian monotheists, of course, are asked to put the God of Jesus Christ at the center of everything.”
Dr. Camosy reflects, “Republicans can put Jesus at the center. Democrats can put Jesus in the center. Those of us who don’t belong to either party can put Jesus at the center. If it’s our baptism which unites us as brothers and sisters in Christ, that should be first.”
In discerning the 2024 presidential election, Dr. Camosy believes neither major candidate or party fulfills what it means to be pro-life. “If you’re choosing between the two major parties, Pope Francis talked about choosing the lesser of two evils. That’s perfectly legitimate in a situation like this, he says. “Even before [this election], the Church taught you could vote for the pro-choice candidate over the pro-life candidate, as long as you weren’t doing it because they were pro-choice.” He continues that a voter may choose a pro-choice candidate for “proportionally serious reasons.”
Dr. Camosy encourages Catholic voters to consult the United States Council of Catholic Bishops’ resources for forming one’s conscience when voting in this election. “Yes, [the USCCB resources] spend a lot of time talking about abortion, and rightly so. It’s hard to imagine a more serious, more prominent issue there,” he says.
“It spends a lot of time on the topic of immigration where there’s obviously a difference between the parties. It spends a significant amount of time talking about ecological concern, care for God’s creation, economic and racial justice, euthanasia and assisted suicide…these are all things, frankly, neither [major] party has any sort of consistent Catholic view on,” Dr. Camosy says. He discusses the potential of voting for a third-party candidate, and suggests researching the American Solidarity Party whose platform is more consistent with Catholic teaching.
For those feeling anxious about voting or the outcome of this election, Dr. Camosy says, “These political decisions are not without weight and gravity. They are important, but at the end of the day, our ability to be authentically Catholic and to say, ‘I’m a Catholic first, and a political actor second. I don’t filter my faith through my politics, but rather the other way around.’ That becomes way more important, especially if we have our ultimate home [of heaven] in mind.”
