President Joe Biden is lauded as being a “devout Catholic” by the liberal press often and with enthusiasm. Given the Catholic Church’s opposition to many key tenets of Democratic policy, one wonders why this aspect of his character receives so much attention from people who are usually highly critical of the Church’s stance on issues like abortion and sexual ethics.
I think I know why.
Biden, like many self-proclaimed Catholics and Christians, likes the veneer of sanctity and earnestness that comes from identifying as a believer, but only if they also vocally break from traditional Christian teaching on key hot button topics.
Politicians cynically use this ploy to placate Christian voters who have concerns about certain issues so they will vote from them. They are using their faith to manipulate Christians into voting for them and ultimately into supporting policies that many Christians are actually against.
Biden has provided a sterling example of this bit of political trickery with his recent statements and actions. On one hand, he (wrongfully) cites Pope Francis as saying the Covid vaccine is a “moral obligation” in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy that he and his people are largely responsible for fueling due to their insistence on wearing masks, keeping social distance, and avoiding crowds even after being vaccinated.
On the other hand, Biden has rescinded the Mexico City policy that prohibits use of U.S. funds for international organizations who provide abortions, and, recently, also overturned Trump’s ban on using abortal fetal cells for medical research.
To be clear: there is no more important moral issue for the Catholic Church than abortion because it involves the wanton killing of an innocent human life in the womb.
It is not self-defense, it is not “letting nature take its course,” it is not “reproductive health”, and it is not “my body, my choice.” It is killing a baby in the womb because it is not wanted or inconvenient, in 98% of the cases. Every human life is precious in the eyes of God, who is its author and biggest advocate.
When his creatures must kill another for self-defense, or in a just war, or even in the protection of society, it is a sad thing, but justifiable from a moral sense. The Bible justifies such killings as necessary for the public good, but those being killed are either actively engaged in a crime, have committed a heinous crime, or are trying to kill another in a military conflict.
But a child is completely and wholly innocent. The only reason we tolerate its killing in the womb is because we don’t see the act. It is hidden behind the veil of the woman’s abdomen, or in the dark corners of an abortion clinic. It is because we do not want to look and see what is happening. Trust me, it’s the most awful thing you can ever imagine.
And yet Biden, this “devout Catholic,” is perfectly fine with it and is even encouraging it. He is encouraging scientists to use the blood and guts of aborted children for medical research, thereby encouraging the sale of and profit-taking from human fetal body parts, something that is illegal, but, as all have seen, goes on. It is the inevitable result of permitting and even encouraging scientific research using human fetal tissue.
We live in a truly sick culture that deems it OK not only to destroy innocent human life for convenience, but to then profit it off the body parts and use them to create treatments for the living. It is morally indistinguishable from ancient cultures sacrificing children to gain the favor of the gods, a good harvest, or victory in warfare.
Often, these “cures” that are being sought by the use of fetal cells are not achieved or can be pursued by other means. (By the way, I would argue that no cure is worth the killing of another human being, though others before me have not held that position, like the Nazis.)
What is truly crazy about this situation is that the Democratic Party is by-and-large against animal testing, and more leftwing elements are for completely against it for medical purposes. They would rather save a rat from experimentation than save a human from abortion. That is not hyperbole.
Try this thought experiment: if a dog got pregnant and the owners didn’t want the puppies, would anyone you know countenance the killing of those puppies in utero? I think not. Yet, that’s exactly what we do when we approve of abortion or claim to be pro-choice.
It is a kind of monstrous moral hypocrisy that is rarely even achieved by some of the worst cultures in history, and the damage done to the souls of those who engage in it is real and profound. It also sickens our national soul and is a part of why our country is so divided and full of hate these days.
Biden may go on and on about wanting to help families, immigrants, workers, etc., but as long as he embraces abortion as a tool to ensure his own political viability, support a false notion of women’s autonomy and freedom, and create cures using the blood of innocents, I will not take him at his word and assume he’s just using those causes to manipulate voters, gain power, and expand the dominion of the state for the benefit of his own party and nothing else.
If you do not care for the most innocent and vulnerable of human lives and instead seek to exploit them, you are not a true person of moral integrity, much less a “devout Catholic” or sincere Christian. And you are not my president.
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
Why does this fool Trey Hoffman get a platform each week to spill out misinformation and ignorance?
Every keystroke on this website is possible only because Cal Beverly has opened this forum. And to Cal’s credit, he will usually print any letter he receives. Fortunately, most of the people who believe the misinformation on Fox News aren’t so narcissistic that they must transcribe it in order to see their names in print. But pharisees like Trey Hoffman will be pharisees. I doubt that he has the ability to perceive his naivety.
For the same reason you do.
Joe Biden should be praised for his pro-choice stance rather than derided. Gallup polls consistently show that over 75% of Americans want to keep abortion legal in some form, and, at least in this instance, President Biden is functioning as a principled American leader.
Thankfully, the United States is a democratically elected republic rather than a theocracy. Daily we see the tormented state of people who must live in regimented theocracies (e.g., Iran). Ancient holy books may contain wisdom, but inflexible adherence to any utterance that some prophet ascribes to some god has no place in a constitutional republic.
Joe Biden was on the presidential ticket last November, not Pope Francis. How wonderful if all of our elected officials would stand up to theocrats who constantly attempt to impose their interpretations of divine messaging on all of us without regard to its rationality!
John Kennedy summed up the position very well in 1960 in Houston, Texas: “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”
I hope the same sentiments will always be true for our second Catholic president.
Your statement that “Gallup polls consistently show that over 75% of Americans want to keep abortion legal in some form” is patently false. The most recent poll conducted in June 2020 asked the question “Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances.” Only 50% of Americans polled supported any legal status for abortion. The highest level of support on that question was recorded in 2000 at 56%. By comparison, 20% of Americans would support an absolute ban on abortion, while 29% would want so-called abortion on demand. (“Americans’ Abortion Views Steady in Past Year”, Lydia Saad. (29 June 2020).) Better polls with more nuanced questions reveal that the vast majority of Americans want to limit abortion only to those needed for the health and safety of the mother, or in case of rape or incest. The best statistics we have say that would eliminate slightly over 99% of all abortions being performed in the US today.
Not that you can ever justify an immoral act based on mere popularity alone. And that brings us to your straw man argument that Joe Biden is under attack merely for being Catholic. On the contrary, he is under attack for being a hypocrite who flaunts his Catholicism for votes while standing in open defiance of the teachings of Christ and the Canon of the Roman Catholic Church. Biden has already been denied Holy Communion once because of his heretical views on abortion, and this June the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is set to discuss the broader issue of denying the Eucharist to politicians who promote abortion.
Umm can you read?? 50% want abortion under some circumstances and 29% want full abortion rights. Adds up to > 75% wanting abortion access in “some form.” How can you say his claim is ‘patently false’? You cite the freaking numbers in your response!??
Stay in school kids…
I hope he sees this bro.
PTC – As Owl points out, my poll statement is substantiated by your own statistics, but if you prefer, only 20% of Americans support an outright ban on abortion.
There is no a straw man argument about our President. He ran on a pro-choice platform and was elected with the expectation that he would protect abortion rights. If that places him in conflict with his (or anyone else’s) religious beliefs, I couldn’t care less. The only way that I would deem him to be a hypocrite is if he somehow changed his pro-choice stance after being elected.
Thank the “gods” that we don’t live in a theocracy!
You cannot simply sum the percentages of the two groups and claim they’re supportive of a given position. The statement “legal in some form” implies “illegal in all other forms”. Were I to be as dishonest as you’re being, I could just as easily add the 50% and 20% and claim that 70% oppose legalizing abortion. Obviously that’s no more true than your assertion.
A person is a hypocrite when they profess a belief that they themselves do not act according to. Biden has confessed his Catholic faith in a cynical maneuver to get votes. He then acts contrary to the tenets of that faith. That makes him a hypocrite. If Biden had merely remained silent on the issue, then the label of hypocrite could not be applied. But then, politicians are pathologically incapable of not taking a position.
Nobody made the claim that > 75% want full, legal access to abortion. So no you could not “just easily… claim that 70% oppose legalizing abortion”
You mentioned something about being dishonest….?
The claim was >75% support legalized abortion under “certain circumstance.” 50% support legalized abortion under “CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCE” and 29% support legalized abortion under “ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.”
So it is not dishonest to say that those who agree to legal abortion in “any circumstance” would also agree to legal abortion in “certain circumstances”. As certain circumstances would fall under any circumstances.
Illegal in “All Circumstances” however, does not fall under “Some Circumstances” There is no overlap there.
Fact 1 – only a minority of Americans support a complete ban on abortions.
Fact 2 – Joe Biden ran on a pro-choice platform, and he never wavered from this plank of the platform.
Now PTC, you can get back to the Fox News broadcast so you can spin whatever facts are necessary to make Joe Biden a villain and to convince each other that Trump actually won the November election. Maybe Tucker Carlson can create some “alternative facts” to mollify you and Trey.
Truth is always stranger than fiction!
This is one of those times where posting a venn diagram would be very useful.
Fact 1 – Only a minority of Americans (27% polled) support full legalization of abortion. You don’t get to claim the ~50% in between as being in support of your position. There is some subset that is likely to support your position, but you cannot know how much that is. The poll I previously cited has Americans roughly evenly split over the slightly more ambiguous question of “pro choice” vs “pro life”. There is no room in that venn diagram for this magical 50% room for error. So, claiming “over 75%” is quite obviously a falsehood.
Fact 2 – Joe Biden cannot (1) claim to be Catholic and (2) advocate a policy position that is contradictory to the teachings of Catholicism. That is precisely why he’s a hypocrite. (If Biden had remained silent on the issue, or said “I come from a Catholic tradition, but…” he would be off the hook for the charge of hypocrisy.)
Fact 3 – As I’ve previously explained to you… I don’t watch TV. Far from falling into one of your ideological categories of viewership, I learned a long time ago that the corporate for-profit content creation machine collectively owned by just 6 multi-national media conglomerates who operate under brand names like Fox or CNN are NOT news. They’re businesses that manufacture fear, uncertainty, and doubt and sells advertising in between.