(RNS) — A video by a Catholic priest in which he condemns Democrats as “godless” and warns Catholics not to vote for them has gained the approval of at least one American bishop.
“Here’s a memo for clueless, baptized Catholics out there,” said James Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Catholic parish in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, in the video. “You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period.”
Screengrab as James Altman speaks in video warning Catholics who vote for Democrats.
The video, which has been viewed close to 300,000 times, says that the church must condemn immoral politics. Alpha News MN, a website that Minnesota Public Radio reported has ties to prominent Republican donor Robert Cummins, produced the piece.
Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler Texas, endorsed the video on Twitter.
“As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video,” he wrote. “My shame is that it has taken me so long. Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation…pleases HEED THIS MESSAGE.”
The video begins with a prayer concerning Christ’s blood, followed by condemnations of what Altman calls “godless politicians,” who he says are to blame for America’s problems.
“The problem in the world today, as it was in Noah’s day, and as it was in Abraham, Lot, and Sodom and Gomorrah’s day, as it was as Jesus warned us it would be, is that there are way too many people who don’t know the first thing about Almighty God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” Altman says in the video.
The video then cuts to photos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joe Biden and a photo of an abortion rally. Both Pelosi and Biden are Catholic.
“And so we can see in the many godless politicians, in the godless educational system, in the godlessness of so many ‘sheeples,’ they are most definitely not serving him, they are not fulfilling their purpose in life,” Altman says in the video.
Altman then takes aim at those who say politics has no place in the church.
“Baloney,” he says, claiming that the church has to condemn immoral politics.
Altman criticizes James Martin, a Jesuit priest and popular author and speaker who offered a prayer at the Democratic National Convention. Altman claims in the video that the Democratic Party’s platform in sinful and that those who vote for Democrats will be damned, with “60 million and counting aborted babies barring your Democrat entrance” to heaven.
“So just quit pretending that you’re Catholic and vote Democrat,” he says. “Repent of your support of that party or face the fires of hell.”
