They're Not Sayin', They're Just Sayin'

The Catholic Diocese of New Hampshire this Sunday started distributing its voter guide . Since they can't tell you who to vote for and keep their tax exemption, they'll just tell you that you can't ever vote for anyone who is for abortion or stem cell research, but that everything else is totally negotiable based on your conscience as long as those things are the most important things! Other things your conscience need not feel quite as worried about include war, poverty, social justice, racism and environmental policy. We bring you some of that joyous news after the jump.

The voter guide is filled with images of happy families and couples, like this happy one. They're smiling under a quote from Pope Benedict that says that it's not the Church's responsibility to bring about political justice but to encourage people to do what's right even when it's not in their own best interests. That's the Catholic Church for you: it's their job to bring about an end to abortion and birth control, but not to actually actively advocate for the "authentic requirements of justice."

Also, in case you've forgotten, the Catholic Church is all about hierarchies! Levels of hell, purgatory, layers upon layers of paper bureaucracy and obfuscation, they loooove it all. And, so, they'd like to remind Catholics that while war might be "seriously wrong" if it involves killing civilians, abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research are "intrinsically evil." That's, like, worse and stuff. The death penalty, however, isn't classfied.

In the end, though, they'd just like to order your priorities for you while you're trying to pick a candidate. If you can't choose someone who meets all the criteria, then you should definitely either stay home or vote for the anti-abortion candidate because that's the most pressing problem facing the United States today, the end. See you on Sunday!

 Conscience and Your Vote: Catholic Social Teaching [Manchester Diocese]