Church(es) and politics in your country

[Martinus]

I am just wondering how active religious ministers in your countries are - I suppose the results will vary wildly between Europe, the US and say, Latin America.

[The Brain]

All of the above.

[Monoriu]

The Catholic Church is moderately active in local politics.  They are a large school operator, so they have a lot of things to say on education policy.  And yes, gay rights.  It is a pretty fringe issue here, and most people don't pay attention to these things.  Nevertheless, the trend is to remove anti-gay legacy legislation.  The Church is of course opposed to these changes.  Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the local cardinal is a big personal proponent of democracy.  So he is usually at odds with the pro-Beijing camp on the political set up of HK.  This however is more of a personal thing, rather than official Church policy. 

The HK cardinal has a somewhat special role to play in Sino-Vatican relations.  See, the Catholic Church is officially banned on the mainland, but not in HK.  So in effect, he is the highest official Vatican representative in the entire China, not just HK. 

[CountDeMoney]

The results vary widely in the US.  Tard.

[Sheilbh]

The HK cardinal has a somewhat special role to play in Sino-Vatican relations.  See, the Catholic Church is officially banned on the mainland, but not in HK.  So in effect, he is the highest official Vatican representative in the entire China, not just HK.

Everyone needs a little bit of Zen

It really depends where and what you mean Mart.  It varies wildly from area to area and issue to issue and the Church as well.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, I marked all of them as at some time a churchman has involved himself in such matters. But in England the amount of church interference is pretty low, less than it should be perhaps.

[CountDeMoney]

But in England the amount of church interference is pretty low, less than it should be perhaps.

You've just signed your death warrant with the Polish Fag Brigade.  HOW DAR YUO

[Zanza]

A few days ago, the Pope held a speech in our parliament.

[Razgovory]

A few days ago, the Pope held a speech in our parliament.

Isn't he a citizen though?

[Solmyr]

The churches (Lutheran and Orthodox) in Finland speak on social issues but are not involved in state-level politics. We have a Christian party which is very conservative (oppose same-sex marriage, etc), but quite marginal (4% support among voters in last election). They are actually in the government right now, mainly so that the "True Finns" (nationalists who gained a lot of votes in the last election) could be excluded, and the chairwoman is minister of the interior, but they are basically sidelined on most issues regardless (e.g. the government is preparing a same-sex marriage bill for a vote, despite this party opposing it).

[Grallon]

Other:

The people turned their back on the Catholic Church sometime in the 1960s here - and they haven't looked back.  However when the clergy ventures into voicing an opinion - such as last year's declaration against abortion from the Cardinal of Quebec - its members are usually shouted down and ridiculed.




G.

[Martinus]

A few days ago, the Pope held a speech in our parliament.

Isn't he a citizen though?

Don't know about the US, but in Europe being a citizen of a country does not give you an automatic right to speak in its Parliament - you need to be elected first.

[JonasSalk]

Don't know about the US, but in Europe being a citizen of a country does not give you an automatic right to speak in its Parliament - you need to be elected first.

Unlike in Europe, we Americans allow anyone, even douchebag toefuckers to speak in Congress if there is a specific enough reason for them.  The PM of Israel, for example, spoke to the full thing only a month or so ago.

[Martinus]

I also started a thread because there is a big debate/uproar right now over the clergy telling the faithful from the pulpit which party to vote for (mainly, PiS) and which is the tool of Satan (PO). The upper echelons of the church (bishops and up) pay lip service to the church's neutrality and say the priests should not do that, but are not very fast to censor their underlings when they do.

And on the opposite end, the voices of the people who say that we should abolish church tax breaks and whatnot get stronger and stronger.

On the other hand, a clergyman running for an elected office is unheard of (although we have a black protestant pastor in the Parliament - but I also realize that this split and clergy's neutrality is likely less important/expected when there is no clergy celibacy, so ministers are more like "normal people").

[Valmy]

Wow.  I don't know.  I mean there are so many religions and so many clergy members.  I mean we have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton running around doing political mischief and they are clergy members right?  I am sure there are many in public office as well.

As for Catholic Priests well...one of the most famous populist political figures in American History was Father Charles Coughlin.  Wow was that dude a nutball.  But that was way back before WWII.