GOVERNMENT

PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs “A mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw sired by a Virginia mulatto father.” - John Adams on Thomas Jefferson

PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs - Thomas Jefferson on John Adams “A hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force & firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” - Thomas Jefferson on John Adams

PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs Posturing Plots & Ploys Political Poise & Patience

PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Stop Listening to Fear & Hate Reevaluate Facebook activity Pray for Politicians “I urge that entreaties and prayers … be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority.” - 1 Timothy 2:1-2

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Primary Question 3 Possible Approaches No Distinction w/ Competition Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION “I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President who happens also to be Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters – and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President – on …

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION “… birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject – I will make my decision … without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates.” - John F. Kennedy

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Primary Question 3 Possible Approaches No Distinction w/ Competition Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION “Because [many] do not consider beliefs informed by theology as belonging to a knowledge tradition, they feel justified in dismissing theo-logically informed policy proposals as de facto inferior to so-called secular ones [that] answer precisely the same questions.” - Francis Beckwith

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Primary Question 3 Possible Approaches No Distinction w/ Competition Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant Some Distinction & Complementary

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION What are the things of Caesar? Rule with Authority Promote Righteousness Punish Evil & Wickedness Collect Taxes Protect the Poor & Oppressed Aren’t these the things of God?

STATECRAFT IS SOULCRAFT “[Aristotle] meant by this that the state or government, by its policies, procedures and actions, places moral ideas in the social and legal fabric of a political regime, and that these ideas serve to shape the quality of its citizens’ character.” - Francis Beckwith

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Implications of this Approach C & S “Separation” = Too Wide National Conscience = Important Removing God is Catastrophic “The liberties we cherish … depend on a natural moral law … best explained by the existence of God.” - Beckwith

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Applications of this Approach: Be Informed & Vote Argue for “Common Good” Pursue Vocation in Politics? Place Hope in Returning King

GOVERNMENT