conscience and democracy, again

Thanks to Steve for his recent post on conscience and democracy. I think a useful way to think about this is to ask whether one's conscience is infallible. In some versions of conscience, it seems that one's conscience can never be mistaken--that it is a capacity to decide about the content of good and evil. (As Pope Benedict has recently stated, this view destroys the categories of good and evil.) The understanding of conscience set forth in the Catechism (sections 1776-1802) and Veritatis Splendor (which, I take it, Steve rejects) is different. In that view, conscience (freedom) is linked to truth. Under this view, one has a duty to follow one's conscience, but that determination can be wrong. The Catechism discusses this at some length under the heading "erroneous judgment." Under Steve's view, is this category an empty set?

I admit to being perplexed by Steve's view that the Catechism's view of conscience is inconsistent with American democracy. Does he mean to say that one could not follow the Magisterium on a disputed moral question without somehow breaking faith with American democracy? Or just that one could not support a law that was consistent with a moral view held by the Magisterium because that would violate the Establishment Clause? There are, of course, many who might react negatively to someone who held the view expressed by the Catechism but I understood Steve to be suggesting something far more sweeping.

Richard M.