CatholicVote.org is a conservative,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

political advocacy group based in the United States. While the organization acknowledges the authority of the

Magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...

, it is independent of the Catholic Church.CatholicVote About
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Structure

CatholicVote.org is divided into three organizations: CatholicVote.org, a project of Fidelis, a Catholic organization. CatholicVote.org Political Action Committee is an affiliated non-partisan political action committee which assists selected candidates in their election campaigns. CatholicVote PAC is the group's connected political action committee; its goal is to "provide qualified candidates with direct financial support while working independently to mobilize voters to elect candidates whom we believe will be faithful stewards of Catholic social teaching and the common good." In 2010, it made campaign contributions to six Republicans and one

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. CatholicVote.org Education Fund is a 501(c)3 tax-deductible program which comprises two units: the CatholicVote.org Education Fund and the CatholicVote.org Legal Action Fund.

History

Domain name

The CatholicVote.org

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

was first used by the Catholic Alliance in early 2000. The Catholic Alliance was a grassroots group of Americans who agreed with the platform of the fundamental evangelical Protestant Christian Coalition but wished to widen the Coalition's scope to include Catholics. The Catholic Alliance, formed in 1995, held the website until mid-2002. The next owner of the domain name was Larry Cirignano, founder of Catholic Vote, later called Catholic Citizenship. He used the domain for six years until mid-2008. The Fidelis Center began operating the domain in October 2008, initially redirecting it to CatholicVote.com. The first published articles linked on the site included ones by co-founders Brian Burch and Joshua Mercer. The Fidelis Center subsequently sold the domain to Fidelis, a related, but independent 501(c)4 organization which operates the domain today.

Fidelis

CatholicVote.org is run under the umbrella of the Fidelis Center, a Catholic non-profit group. "Imagine Spot 1" was the first release of the national media campaign "Life: Imagine the Potential" in 2009. In ten days it recorded over 700,000 hits. The commercial centers around the story of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, showing an ultrasound image and saying that despite a hard childhood, the unborn child will grow up to be

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

. The advert was rejected by both

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

for airing during the Super BowlNBC_rejects_ NBC_rejects_pro-life
_ad_using_Obama">pro-life">NBC_rejects_pro-life
_ad_using_Obama/ref>_and_CNN.html" ;"title="pro-life
_ad_using_Obama.html" ;"title="pro-life">NBC rejects pro-life
ad using Obama">pro-life">NBC rejects pro-life
ad using Obama/ref> and CNN">pro-life
_ad_using_Obama.html" ;"title="pro-life">NBC rejects pro-life
ad using Obama">pro-life">NBC rejects pro-life
ad using Obama/ref> and CNN for airing during coverage of President Obama's first State of the Union Address. The second commercial was also released in 2009, "Imagine Spot 2". This commercial featured Nelson Mandela. It was aired in selected markets during the ''American Idol'' American Idol#Season 8, season 8 finale.Anti-Abortion Ad Scores with 'American Idol'
/ref> In 2010 CatholicVote.org organized a petition urging the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

to move forward with issuing a

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

commemorative stamp despite opposition by the

Freedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization, which advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of many ...

and similar groups.

Controversy

On June 25, 2015, one day before same-sex marriage became legal everywhere in the United States, CatholicVote.org uploaded a video onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

called "Not Alone". The video features Catholic people who oppose same-sex marriage defending this belief, saying that people should not hate or dislike those who oppose same-sex marriage. It quickly received a minimum of a million views on YouTube, where it received a massive backlash due to the video's message. On YouTube, "Not Alone" both received many more dislikes than likes and received many negative comments. Parodies of the video appeared very quickly., and many websites condemned it, calling the participants "bigots" or "anti-gay". CatholicVote.org president Brian Burch said "literally tens of thousands of people are emailing, saying: 'thank you for speaking up for me. I don't agree with the Supreme Court decision, but I don't hate anyone.'" In June 2022, CatholicVote.org urged parents to check out any LGBT-themed books at their local libraries so that no children will be able to see them.

References

External links

Official website"Imagine Spot 1"
from the campaign "Life: Imagine the Potential" * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholicvote.Org Organizations based in Madison, Wisconsin Catholicism and politics Organizations established in 2008 Anti-abortion organizations in the United States American Christian political organizations Catholic Church and abortion 2015 controversies in the United States 2015 in LGBT history 2015 in American politics Political controversies in the United States Religious controversies in the United States Same-sex marriage in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States