--- title: Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats description: A Catholic church in California posted fliers telling its visitors the choice in this election is clear: don't vote for Hillary Clinton, or else you'll go to hell. canonical: https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-04T12:55:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:22.136Z article:section: Politics og:title: Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats og:description: A Catholic church in California posted fliers telling its visitors the choice in this election is clear: don't vote for Hillary Clinton, or else you'll go to hell. og:url: https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats twitter:description: A Catholic church in California posted fliers telling its visitors the choice in this election is clear: don't vote for Hillary Clinton, or else you'll go to hell. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 4, 2016 12:55 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 4, 2016 12:55 PM UTC A Catholic church in California posted fliers telling its visitors the choice in this election is clear: Don’t vote for Hillary Clinton, or else you’ll go to hell. A memo posted at San Diego’s Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Oct. 16 said, “It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat . . . immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell,” [the Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/04/mortal-sin-to-vote-democratic-says-san-diego-catholic-church-linking-hillary-clinton-to-satan/). It outlined the five political topics where the Democratic position would condemn you to hell: abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research. A memo on October 30 specifically mentioned Hillary Clinton and expanded the list of issues, including supporting gun control and “accepting immigrants whose “religious values are to eradicate every belief except those of their own prophet and god.” Church officials have denounced the fliers and said they were not put out by the church in any official capacity. “While we have a moral role to play in explaining how Catholic teaching relates to certain public policy issues, we must not and will not endorse specific candidates,” said Bishop Robert McElroy in a statement. “It’s not a mortal sin to vote for Democrats, number one,” said diocese spokesman Kevin Eckery. “And number two, the church doesn’t take positions on this, and we’re not going to.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/"},"headline":"Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats","datePublished":"2016-11-04T12:55:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:22.136Z","description":"You can vote for Donald Trump or go to hell","url":"https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/","keywords":["California","2016 Election","Religion"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4558222/catholic-church-san-diego-sin-democrats/","name":"Catholic Church in California Warned It's a 'Mortal Sin' to Vote for Democrats"}}]}] ```