Catholics Go Left?

The idea, revealed by a new poll, that many Catholics in the United States do not live in accordance with Catholic doctrine and have gone left—in their politics as well as their faith—is certainly not a new one, and has as much to do with the era of relativism that has shaken traditional institutions worldwide for several generations as it has to do with being American.

Being American does have something to do with bending to authority, much as being French does, and the two national histories of being founded—at least in our case wholly, while partly for the French—in revolution, does play into the desire to resist becoming too faithful to a religion whose knee is bended to God and Rome.

However, while the French in particular, and Europe in general, seem to be fleeing from their religious traditions, it might be that in America, the fleeing is not from religion, but from religion that is no longer religious, no longer founded on clear and solid truths that have survived for eternity, which is what most would think religion is (or certainly should be) all about.

And in that respect, it may be that the turning toward the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church, evident here in much of what is going on, on the ground—and even in France—through the growth of Latin Mass attendance.

The poll itself, while so embracing of the secular social narrative that religion is dying, was also quite tilted—reminding us that with the correct set of people and correct set of questions you can determine anything you want—as this excerpt from the article from Catholic World News notes:

“The Pew Forum survey did not make a distinction between active and lapsed Catholics. In fact, 48% of the respondents who identified themselves as Catholics said that they attended Mass "a few times a year" or even less frequently.

“The Pew survey demonstrated an apparent liberal tilt in the political views of American Catholics. Although 36% of those surveyed described themselves as conservatives, and only 18% as liberals, a slim majority (51%) favored more government programs and 60% supported stronger environment laws. About one-third (33%) of the respondents said that they favored the Republican party, while nearly half (48%) favored the Democrats.”