On the Joe Biden question, the US bishops are right

Jun 22, 2021 by Jill

by Gavin Ashenden, Christian Today:

The struggle between two different ethical and philosophical world views reached a climax in America last week as the House of Bishops in the Catholic Church expressed their discomfort with Joe Biden offering pollical support for abortion while demanding the right to receive the Eucharist as a faithful Catholic when his political views are in direct conflict to the faith.

Some commentators, like the eminent Ruth Gledhill writing in Christian Today, take a progressive view on this:

“It is difficult to see the decision of the US bishops this week to move forward with drafting a document that would in effective seek to penalise President Joe Biden for his support for the right to choose on abortion, as anything other than a political intervention.”

In fact I think this has the situation upside down. This is in fact a spiritual intervention in a political debate which has been dominated by political and secular values, brought about because the most elevated political figure in the United States wants both the power of his office and the privileges of his faith.

The problem arises because the ethics of the faith he wants the privileges of have been contradicted, confronted and attacked by the politics he represents. Given such a stark contradiction, many people – and not just Catholic bishops – believe he is going to have to relinquish either his political views or the pretence he is being a faithful Catholic.

Read here

Read also: A battle of faiths: Liberals clash with Catholics on abortion by Mary Harrington, UnHerd

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