Catholic Christian politics and attitudes

Although institutionalized patriarchal models of leadership are present in many religions,^[1] Catholics are quite extreme. Their attitudes to female roles in society, divorce, contraception and abortion mirror the primacy of the male in the church. This approach has been rationalised by saying that men and women are made differently – although no religion ever gives women more power or status than men.^[2] Catholicism teaches overall that homosexuality is against God’s law. “Every human being is called to receive a gift of divine sonship, to become a child of God by grace. However, to receive this gift, we must reject sin, including homosexual behaviour.”^[3] At best, more moderate Catholics state that God loves all his children, and that, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, if gay people live in celibacy then they are not sinning.^[4] Same-sex marriage is not allowed - additionally, nor is any sex outside of marriage. Catholicism contains social teaching, which emphasises voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.^[5]