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 Paul Ryan is better known for his outspoken fiscal conservatism than for leading on conservative Catholic social causes.
August 11th, 2012
09:20 AM ET
Ryan as VP pick continues election year focus on CatholicismBy Dan Gilgoff and Dan Merica Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate promises to cast a spotlight on American Catholicism in an election year when the tradition has already been a major focus. Ryan, a Catholic who chairs the House Budget Committee, is better known for his outspoken fiscal conservatism than for leading on conservative Catholic social causes like opposing abortion and gay marriage. But Romney called attention to Ryan's religion Saturday in introducing him as his running mate: "A faithful Catholic, Paul believes in the worth and dignity of every human life," Romney said. And socially conservative groups were quick to praise Ryan's selection, with the president of National Right to Life saying that "Ryan has a deep, abiding respect for all human life, including unborn children and their mothers, the disabled and the elderly." Ryan’s advocacy for cutting taxes and trimming the deficit — he is the architect of the GOP’s proposed federal budget — married with his willingness to talk about fiscal belt-tightening in moral terms and his low-key social conservatism speak to a political moment in which the economic concerns of the Tea Party and the social focus of the Christian right have merged into a relatively cohesive anti-Obama movement. CNN's Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the day's big stories Ryan’s presence on the ticket also could increase Romney’s appeal among the millions of middle-of-the-road Catholic voters who populate key swing states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Catholics are considered the quintessential swing vote, and no presidential candidate has won the White House without winning Catholics since at least the early 1990s. With Romney, a Mormon, selecting a Catholic, Obama is the only Protestant in the 2012 presidential race (Vice President Joe Biden is also Catholic). "As a conservative Catholic, Ryan is likely to appeal to a number of Catholics in the Midwest,” said John Green, a professor of religion and politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. “Catholics who are concerned about religious liberty, he is certainly a positive there." The Catholic Church has helped frame this year’s election by strenuously opposing a rule in President Obama’s health care law that requires insurance companies to provide free contraception coverage to nearly all American employees, including those at Catholic colleges and hospitals. The Democrats have said that Romney’s and the GOP’s support for the Church’s position constitutes a “war on women,” while Romney and his party say Obama’s rule represents a “war on religion.” In an interview with CNN, former GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich, who is Catholic, said that Ryan would shore up support in a Catholic community that feels it is “under siege.” Romney released an ad Thursday repeating the war on religion charge. Next week, Sandra Fluke — a Georgetown University law student who was thrust into the national spotlight after radio show host Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” for her role in supporting Obama’s contraception rule — will introduce the president at a stop in Denver. Ryan’s own Catholicism became a major issue this year, with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops criticizing his proposed federal budget for what the bishops said would be its adverse impact on the poor. The bishops cautioned against overreaching budget cuts that endanger “poor and vulnerable people.” The bishops’ message called on “Congress and the administration to protect essential help for poor families and vulnerable children and to put the poor first in budget priorities.” This split between politically conservative and liberal Catholics has existed for decades in the Catholic Church. But with Ryan running for vice president, some experts expect this divide to be sharpened. "What Ryan will highlight is a division within the Catholic community,” Green said. “More politically liberal Catholics are very critical of the Republican approach and the Ryan budget, but Ryan has taken them head on.” In an April speech at Georgetown, a Catholic school, Ryan defended his budget in religious terms. “The work I do as a Catholic holding office conforms to the social doctrine as best I can make of it,” Ryan said. “What I have to say about the social doctrine of the Church is from the viewpoint of a Catholic in politics applying my understanding of the problems of the day.” Ryan’s $3.53 trillion budget doubles down on past proposals to overhaul Medicare and other government programs that are seen as politically sensitive. While the budget has little chance to become law, it draws a distinct contrast with Democratic views on spending. That speech, along with other statements that put his budget into religious terms, led liberal Catholic groups to openly protest Ryan’s budget. In particular, NETWORK, a group founded by 47 Catholic nuns that speaks out on social justice issues, went on a bus tour around the country to protest the Ryan budget. In an interview with CNN, Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of NETWORK, said Ryan has co-opted sacred Catholic teachings and twisted their meanings. This line of attack will intensify in the coming months because of Ryan’s nomination, says Deal Hudson, a religion and politics expert who ran President George. W. Bush’s Catholic outreach in 2000 and 2004. “I think the Catholic left will make this the drumbeat about Congressman Ryan,” Hudson said. “That is why it is so important for the campaign to effectively get out in front of this argument.” According to Hudson, it is possible to defend the Ryan budget from Catholic attacks, it will just take a campaign that “realizes this is what they face." soundoff (1,690 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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I for one wont for gop. I dont care if he was a budist, all tha matters is he is GOP and that = a no vote from me.
We can start a club. I'm sure there are many just like us.
The article uses the phrase "Catholic Cominuty", but does not attempt to define that group.
We would argue that the group also includes Ex-Catholics.
If they were counted as a demonination, Ex-Catholics would be the 2nd largest religious group in the USA.
"Faithful Servants of Holy Mother Church" like Mr. Ryan, are anathma to many if not most Ex-Catholics.
Interesting running mates. A Catholic who is Christian and believes in the Holy Trinity running with a Mormon who does not believe in the Holy Trinity and is, thereore, not a Christian. Having said that, religion should not be considered but character and ability, including foreign policy (Great Britain is just a small island that does not produce anything the world wants-Romney book) and the ability to actually know what consensus means.
Catholic, mormon... what' the difference – they just believe in different ridiculous myths...
Hopefully, you won't stand before that big myth in the sky to be judged since then it will be too late.
Religion is the biggest scam in the history of humanity
Must be a pretty good scam with Christianity being around 2,000 years, Buddhaism and Hinduism alot longer, and Roman and Greek gods for at least 1500 yrs before Christ.
Religion should not be confused with spirituality. I call myself a reformed catholic (purposefully not capitalized) and yet I respect others definitions of religion. All religion is is a way to define the undefineable. More wars and disagreements have been fought because people are extremely afraid, deep down, that someone else's definition might be the correct one. I was raised catholic, I looked at many other so-called christian denominations and decided the personal connmection I found matched none of them.
Other people's religion has no place in decisions individuals make about their lives. As long as these decisions are within the law, they are none of your business.
I am too old to be affected be decisions on reproductive rights. I have several people I know who are affected. I have no desire to be kept alive when there is no quality of life left. I pay my taxes every year and disclosed several years when I applied for a mortgage a few years ago. I ask nothing less and nothing more from people who are running for office.
Religion should not be confused with spirituality. I call myself a reformed catholic (purposefully not capitalized) and yet I respect others definitions of religion. All religion is is a way to define the unexplainable. More wars and disagreements have been fought because people are extremely afraid, deep down, that someone else's definition might be the correct one. I was raised catholic, I looked at many other so-called christian denominations and decided the personal connection I found matched none of them.
Other people's religion has no place in decisions individuals make about their lives. As long as these decisions are within the law, they are none of your business.
I am too old to be affected be decisions on reproductive rights. I have several people I know who are affected. I have no desire to be kept alive when there is no quality of life left. I pay my taxes every year and disclosed several years when I applied for a mortgage a few years ago. I ask nothing less and nothing more from people who are running for office.
Neeed to proofread this better, sorry for double posting.
This just in, apparently a sixth gold tablet dug up by romney while in Massachusetts indicated he should select Ryan for running mate!
Religion and Politics......never meant to mix.
I was very disappointed at the choice. It shows the Republicans, who spear-headed women's rights in the 1970s, really have been hijacked by the far right. And if they win, it shows that Americans are more gullible than I thought. And Obama is no prize, but he's not undercutting the elderly or knocking women back to before the common era. Obama and Romney both are interested in bigger government (their favorite flavor, of course) and abridging more rights. It's more like voting for which rights we want to lose first.
The Catholics aren't asking for birth control to be taken away they just don't want to pay for it if they are a self insured plan because they fundamentally believe it is wrong and that natural family planning is better and healthier.
At some point in the near future, the Catholic Church will hopefully become a stronger advocate for "respecting life" beyond unborn babies and euthanasia. It's one thing for a bunch of Jesuits to point out how Ryan's budget proposals contradict his Catholic upbringing. It's another thing when the Pope chastises a bunch of nuns for focusing too much on aid to the poor over a hard-line stance on abortion.
From my perspective, this guy should be denied communion the same way that Corzine was.
Umm those LCWR sisters are not really out there helping the poor like the Sisters of Life in New York City and Missonairies of Charity in Calcutta are. At least the Sisters of Life and the Missionaries of Charity take a vow of poverty and have to beg for food like the poor they serve.
Uh, Allie, those American nuns may be helping the poor more than the good sisters in Calcutta, because they are taking their poverty action on the road into the political realm where it may have a much larger effect. Moreover, though they may not themselves live the vow of poverty as stringently as their sisters in Calcutta, the difference hardly diminishes the validity of the moral point they are trying to make. And I say that with the objective detachment of an atheist.
No those Nuns on a Bus took money from an organization that is backed by atheists and have replaced the tabernacle with a statue of a Goddess, that is so completely offensive to every Catholic.
Speak for yourself Allie. As a practicing Catholic, it disturbs me greatly that we only worry about one facet of respecting life. It's hypocritical to say otherwise.
The truth is that no one political party fully supports the platform of the Catholic Church. The USCCB came out and said that during the 2008 campaign.
Which Koch Brothers 501(c)4 is paying you to post this stuff? I think you have a lot of nerve speaking as if you were the voice of all Catholics. You most definitely are NOT!
And by the way – nowhere in Jesus teachings did he say that women should not take a birth control pill!
I've seen compassionate capitalism, no thanks. You'll feel that way to if you ever need that compassion.
As an adult with a disability, I completely agree.
Ryan's "plan" is to screw me out of years of paying into Medicare and give me a voucher for medical insurance once I get old. Of course, this deceitful plan does not protect me from being told "too bad" by insurers or any other protection so Ryan's plan is little more than a wet kiss to insurers who will able to charge me any amount they want to and to deny coverage whenever they want.
Ryan is anti-American, anti-middle class and since he took Social Security to cover his college tuition, after he unfortunately lost his father, while doing his best to make sure others can't get it, he is the worst kind of sinner- He is a hypocrite.
Jesus will leave this guy behind if he ever comes back.
The nuns still don't like him.
The liberal nuns that are not in good standing with the Magisterium don't like him. In stead of helping the poor they took a bus tour paid for by an atheist group to protest his congressional district. Any self respecting Catholic knows this and prays for these sisters.
Again, Allie, you should get to know your Catholic faith better. The Magisterium is the collective teaching of the Church; it is not doctrine. One must generally adhere to the teachings of the Magisterium, but one is not bound to every last one of them, whereas one is obligated to adhere to the doctrines of the Church, which are really not that many in number. It is true, some of the teachings of the Magisterium have been emphatically endorsed by several Popes, but they still do not rise to the level of doctrine. Moreover, many teachings have fallen away in different eras. That is why and how the cafeteria Catholicism of so many liberal American Catholics has arisen, and which Rome so detests. But Rome also will not push the envelope on the Magisterium because it can't. That women can't be ordained is a teaching of the Magisterium many Catholics reject; it has no doctrinal status and the Pope knows that.
Ryan is a Catholic in name only. Catholics have strenuously protested Ryan's plan to gut Medicare and Social Security, leaving the elderly and the poor in the lurch. Those are certainly not Christian, nor Catholic values. Sorry Ryan. Epic fail.
What happened to separation of church and state? Keep the Catholic, the Mormon, and the Protestant views out of my laws! Government represents all the people, not just the extremist right. Look at Iran!
Good grief yeah he's the Catholic who idolizes the extreme writings of he atheist Ayn Rand!!!!!!!!!!!!What a joke !
Talk about being conflicted!
80% of Catholics don't support the Church's teachings. Hardly a voting "bloc."
very true!
Where did you get that stat? Why do they still consider themselves Catholic if they rebuke ALL the Church teachings or do you mean Social Teachings?
I'm one of the 80% but I resent Obama's heavy/ under – handed handling of the health insurance issue; to me, and countless Catholics it's an infringement of freedom of religion. I also don't like Ryan's threat to cut spending where it hurts the poor and elderly, so I guess that for the first time in my adult life I won't be voting.
he's catholic?
thank GOD that "liberal" catholics think like GOD unlike the small minded Ryan and cultist Romney who think woman are just supposed to have lots of babies, cook and clean .....then say "welcome home Darling" want some? I will put ALL THE KIDS to bed early! Then I will make you a cup of hot tea and rub your feet and S*** your D*** so we don't have to have number 6 child!
I have been a Cradle Catholic that isn't the view of a woman that I was brought with. I do however consider marriage and motherhood as gifts.
Mormon God is a Space Alien, LOL
Mormons Baptize Dead People, L&LOL
Mormon Religion, Big Money, Big Bigotry. L&L&LOL
Mormon man in white underwear, a reference to special Mormon garments. L&L&L&LOL
You forgot thry funded the mob when they needed money to get Las Vegas started. And the mormons don't believe in gambling. they just believe in the Love of money.
Ryan is not going to undo JFK's end to the seperation of chuch and State Catholics; the money for SS to the Church will continue. Romney has played his cards and the direction of a Romney Amdministration is better known.
So Paul Ryan is a pedophile it seems. Go catholics.
You sIr are an IDIOT!
LOL @ any "christian" who votes for the ticket with Ryan on it. Whose own plan was attacked by the actual church for basically telling the poor to go F themselves. Way to go pals you are soooo christian.