Time for church to lead

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Pope John Paul II recently reaffirmed to Roman Catholic politicians that when they take positions opposing "the basic right to life from conception to natural death" they are outside the doctrine of faith.

That's great. But what price do Catholic politicians pay for taking heretical positions?

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None.

In fact, even worse, there is no penalty for church leaders who embrace those politicians.

Thirty years after Roe v. Wade, the popular political culture is still the tail wagging the church's dog.

A perfect illustration of what this toothless doctrine means in the political life of the country and the world can be seen in last year's race for California governor.

Two "Catholics" opposed one another – Gray Davis, the incumbent who supports abortion on demand, and Bill Simon, a businessman who describes himself as pro-life.

Davis won the race. And he won it with an overwhelmingly lopsided Catholic vote. If you removed Catholics from the voting block, Bill Simon would have won the race handily.

In an otherwise very close race, Davis won the Catholic vote 53 to 39 percent. Simon won the non-Catholic vote by 55 to 35 percent.

California Political Review wrote: "That Davis won the Catholic vote – by a 14-point margin, no less – shows a dereliction of duty by the state's bishops. Far from challenging Davis' anti-Catholicism, many bishops and priests fawned over him like star-struck teen-agers. He's frequently seen yukking it up with California's highest-ranking Catholic cleric, Cardinal Roger Mahony, or bear-hugging the pastor of his home parish, Beverly Hills Good Shepherd Church, after Mass."

And that's the problem. The Vatican can issue all the guidelines it wants. But unless the church is going to follow them, they will be meaningless.

The Catholic Church is hardly alone in saying one thing and doing another. Many Protestant mainline churches have quite frankly embraced anti-Christian positions on critical issues like life and the sanctity of marriage. And even the evangelical and fundamentalist churches that take strong positions seldom exact a price for politicians who stray from them.

What can the churches do?

Excommunication. Disfellowship. Good, old-fashioned shunning. It's time to embarrass politicians who put their careers first and their faith and church a distant second at best. It's time to humiliate them. It's time for the churches to take action, to be strong, to stand for something and mean it.

There's got to be a price for vain politicians who flout the teachings of the churches they claim to follow.

I know. I know. It's not very popular today to suggest such things. We're supposed to be tolerant. We're supposed to change people's hearts first.

The trouble with that kind of thinking is that these politicians often use their association with the church to further their careers. They use their association with the church to justify their positions. They use their associations with the church to persuade others to follow them in their misguided and evil campaigns to kill unborn children.

What's more important – some politician's self-esteem or the life of even one unborn child?

The church has got to lead.

The founders of this great country understood that their great experiment in self-government would fall flat on its face if the people were not moral. They said so. Only a moral people are capable of self-government. Immoral people need to be coerced to follow the law, obey the rules and treat one another with respect.

It's the job of the church – and the synagogues – to remind people of eternal truths. When members of the flock stray, the shepherd must sometimes use the stick to bring them back to safety, security and obedience.

It's time for the churches and synagogues in this country – and throughout the world – to begin exercising a little tough love.

Words are nice. Actions speak louder.