An Asian Christian woman living in London blogging about the everyday issues of religion

Thursday 16 August 2012

Is Paul Ryan really a Catholic?

My question is not meant as a cynical observation of Paul Ryan's Catholic faith. I am, instead, perplexed by the man's apparently successful attempts at positioning Ayn Rand's world famous works based on selfishness within his good Catholic beliefs. The tangible outcome is his budget blueprint titled 'The Path To Prosperity' which has secured his nomination as the Republican  vice president candidate.

It is a budget that is designed to rearrange America's governing system to foster a conducive environment that will become even more business oriented. In other words, the rich will benefit and the poor will have the privilege of watching them enjoy the fruits of Ryan's budget while paying for it all. So, where does the teaching of the bible come into this?

I am no theologian but there is something blatantly wrong about calling oneself Catholic and then extolling the virtues of a non-distributive system. In fact, American Catholics (some, not all) have argued that Ryan is manipulating scripture to support his ideology of a small government. One of the main tenets of small government is a reduced welfare state. He proposes cutting food stamps and healthcare for children and the disabled. Some Catholic nuns even undertook bus tours around the country warning people of the consequences of this budget.  You don't mess with Catholic nuns I say.

Ryan hit back by accusing ''some Catholics who for a long time have thought they had a monopoly of sorts...not exactly on heaven, but on the social teachings of our church.' Can we then expect a blueprint of a Paul Ryan scripture which has Jesus going into slum areas and ghettos and smashing these places up or a rewrite of our scriptures but without the Jesus compassion bit?

1 comment:

  1. A growing number of Catholics in the U.S. are becoming Conservative Evangelicalized. It's terrifying.

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