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Dont vote Green, say bishops:

theyre in favour of drugs,
abortion and gay marriage and
against religious freedom
by William Oddie posted Thursday, 31 Mar 2011
Dr William Oddie is a leading
English Catholic writer and
broadcaster. He edited The
Catholic Herald from 1998 to 2004
and is the author of The Roman
Option and Chesterton and the
Romance of Orthodoxy.

In this article
Australia, Caroline Lucas,
environmentalists, green
movement, Green Party

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Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party in England and Wales and the party's only MP (Gareth Fuller/PA)

But thats Australia: surely our own dear Greens

are more wholesome? Dont you believe it

ustralian Greens seem to be a pretty hairy bunch. Cardinal George

Pell has had a go at them before this, and now he is joined by nine
other Australian bishops in the context of elections in New South
Wales. Together, they have issued a document called The Green Agenda,
the main purpose of which is to discourage Catholics from voting for the
local Green party: two bishops have declined to sign the document, on the
grounds that, in the words of one of them, The bishops need to take great
care regarding intervention in the political process. It was OK to highlight
key issues of concern, he thought; but said that he didnt believe that
attacking a particular political party serves to highlight these issues in the
most effective way.
Well, Im not so sure about that: if a partys programme is so obviously
anti-Catholic in its tendency (and one policy is to withdraw state funding
from Catholic schools) why shouldnt bishops say, or imply, that Catholics
shouldnt vote for them? Some Catholics, of course, think that Catholic
schools, once they accept money from a government, are handing over
some of their independence (Im not entirely convinced theyre wrong):
but Australian Greens also want to force religious schools, in the words of
the bishops statement, to employ teachers whose views, values and
lifestyle are contrary to the religious traditions of these schools, and the
hundreds of thousands of parents who send their children to them. The
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real issue here, say the bishops, is religious freedom, which in addition to
private prayer and worship also means the right to live out our faith in the
community.
Australian Greens also want the decriminalisation of personal drug use;
the bishops comment that the use of non-therapeutic drugs damages
health, life and communities and is an offence against human dignity. The
Australian Greens are also in favour of gay marriage; they want to deny
medical practitioners the right of conscientious objection to participating
in or being associated with the practice of abortion; and they want to
introduce legislation to legalise euthanasia.

The bishops conclusion is that The Greens position on a number of

fundamental points of human and social policy areas conflicts directly with
the beliefs and values of virtually all religious people, and the beliefs of
many other people as well. The conflicts are not superficial or
inconsequential. They go to fundamental issues such as respect for all
human life from conception to natural death. They attack religious
freedom and freedom of conscience. Greens who are elected will bring a
whole set of policies. You cannot pick and choose. They are not only
concerned for the environment.
In other words, dont vote Green.
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Should bishops interfere in this way? Well, I dont myself see why not,
when a partys policies are so openly antipathetic to Catholic beliefs. That
raises a question: what about our own Greens? Are they quite so upfront
on such issues? And if they are, what do they actually say about them? If
you look at the outline of English Green Party policies on their website,
theres nothing at all about any of this stuff: theyre against botched
privatisation schemes in the NHS and in favour of implementing in
England and Wales the scheme that provides free social care to the elderly
in Scotland. They want to abolish prescription charges, re-introduce free
eye tests and ensure NHS chiropody is widely available (if they mean
podiatry, actually it is); theyre in favour of higher pensions and a fair deal
for older people. They want a fair housing deal for all, to make it easier for
people to get on the property ladder, to protect home-owners and to
eradicate homelessness for good.
All perfectly defensible stuff, though possibly some of it is a bit impractical
in straitened times: but certainly, theres nothing there a Catholic voter
need be deterred by. Have a look at this, too; it gives their publicly
declared policies in more detail.
But is that sort of thing really all there is? Well, actually, no. Have a look at
this, which emerged after a bit more digging; this is not on their main
website (why not?): :

The Green Party is backing calls for an end to

the ban on same-sex marriage in the UK and in
other EU member states.
Britains two current Green MEPs Caroline
Lucas (South-East England) and Jean Lambert
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(London) have said there should be marriage

equality across the European Union.
Lucas said: The Green Party is the only British
political party that opposes the ban on same-sex
civil marriage. We want marriage equality for
LGBT couples.
She added: It is time same-sex marriage was
agreed and recognised by all EU member states.
Lesbian and gay married couples should be able
to move freely around Europe and have their
marriages recognised on exactly the same basis
as heterosexual married couples.
Or how about this?

Greens are concerned that women seeking an

abortion who can afford to go private can
receive a swifter, and hence medically safer,
procedure. The Greens want to abolish the
current law that requires the consent of two
doctors for an abortion. The Greens believe
appropriately qualified midwives and nurses
should be able to perform abortions, with the
aim of improving access to NHS facilities.
Currently women seeking an abortion face waits
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of up to seven weeks, and nearly 10% of

abortions are carried out privately.
So, is it possible to be a Green and also against abortion and gay marriage?
Is it possible to be a Green and also a Catholic? Not in our politics, maybe:
but Catholics are hardly against a clean and non-toxic environment. So,
why are political greens so extremely (as they would claim) progressive
over policies which arent, really, anything to do with the environment at
all? As the Australian bishops say, in giving their advice on whether to vote
for these people, Greens who are elected will bring a whole set of policies.
You cannot pick and choose. They are not only concerned with the
environment.
So, why is that? Has anyone any ideas? Im stumped. And now our own
English bishops know (anyone reading this might tell them, just in case
they dont read this column) exactly what you get if you vote Green in this
country, will they say anything about it, before the next elections (local or
national)? Im sure they will. Surely. What do you think?

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New nuncio to Britain seeks dialogue

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Australian bishops warn Catholics

against voting for Greens
But two bishops refuse to sign statement, saying
that an attack on a particular party is not the most
effective kind of political intervention

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