[img_assist|nid=892|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=97|height=150]Hats off to Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, who released a truly amazing Catholic voter guide called Voting for the Common Good last week, in anticipation of the upcoming congressional elections. The guide outlines 18 "issues important to Catholics," mentioning abortion side by side with poverty, human rights, the environment, the death penalty, minimum wage, and workers' rights – among other urgent social justice issues du jour. I may not agree with the guide's take on every single issue, but I like the way its authors think.

In taking such a balanced, thoughtful, and morally consistent approach, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good subtly calls out the deafeningly black and white directives on voting one's religious values that are all the rage among hard-line right-wing organizations like the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) these days. Those directives don't just fail to reflect the diversity and debate over social and political issues within the Catholic diaspora, they also do progressive people of faith a deep injustice. Luckily, Voting for the Common Good offers a nice helping of measured, eloquent smackdowns for the likes of groups like C-FAM:

In recent years some have suggested that [Catholics] can answer this question [of how to vote] by applying a simple 'litmus test' of a few selected issues. But common sense tells us that deciding who to vote for is much more complicated.

Since we seldom, if ever, have the opportunity to vote for a candidate with the right positions on all the issues important to Catholics, we often must vote for candidates who may hold the ‘wrong' Catholic positions on some issues in order to maximize the good our vote achieves in other areas.

As politically active Catholics, our primary responsibility is to the common good. A culture of the common good provides for the health, welfare, and dignity of all people, and promotes the best interests of everyone, not just the few. It also focuses on helping those who need it most-the poor and vulnerable.

And my personal favorite:

Can one really claim to be "pro-life" and yet support the death penalty, turn a blind eye to poverty, and not take steps to avoid war? Our Church teaches that the answer to this question is "no."

Of course, C-FAM president Austin Ruse was characteristically quick to miss the point, calling the guide a "blatant attempt to convince Catholics that they can vote for candidates who are wrong on the primary human rights issue of our time, which is abortion." (That's what I love about Austin Ruse, you can never predict how he's going to react!) The Rev. Joseph Fessio, provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, was equally dismayed with the crystal-clear, thoughtfully argued guide, calling it "a flight into abstraction," and venturing to draft a little guide of his own: "Some issues are disqualifying issues. You don't vote for someone who kills babies. You don't vote for someone who destroys the family by supporting homosexual marriage."

Mmm, tolerance incarnate! With whom would you rather share your plural democracy?