First we must get something straight. Catholic politicians cannot simply put aside their beliefs as a Catholic when entering into the political arena. That is simply not an option. For major moral issues that everyone agrees on, this is an obvious statement of fact. If a politician were to say "I'm personally opposed to killing innocent people for no reason, but I'm not going to try to pass a law outlawing it!" most people would be shocked and dismayed.
Yet when it comes to controversial issues, there seems to be confusion. This is because of several distortions, but basically our morality comes from God, and God established his one true Church which is the Catholic Church and therefore the moral law is complete within the Catholic Church. Purposely violating any of these moral laws is a sin. It doesn't matter if an issue is controversial or whether or not others agree with you. You either believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church and follow them no matter what your role or you don't. You don't get to pick and choose.
We must now look at Joe Biden and some of the things he has promised with regards to being president. We will see that his presidency will not be good for the Catholic Faith. On top of the commitments that Biden has already made, we can conjecture as to other paths this president may take. Remember, some people are accused of slippery slope thinking, but who would have thought a year ago that the actual president of the United States would be banned from virtually all forms of social media while still in office? Who would have thought that credit card companies would stop conservative groups from using their payment system? If anyone had predicted these things, they'd be termed a conspiracy theorist, and an extreme one at that. So to just simply notice where things are heading isn't some kind of reckless activity.
Now on to the specifics. Much of the information that I will use for this article comes from a great article written by Peter Wolfgang for the Catholic Herald, which can be found here. I highly encourage you to check it out. But, as a loyal fan of this blog (obviously!) I would love for you to keep reading!
In the linked article from Mr. Wolfgang, he says the following:
He moved heaven and earth to put three originalist judges on the U.S. Supreme Court in four years and appointed hundreds more to other federal courts. He allowed states to defund Planned Parenthood, he defunded the pro-abortion U.N. Population Fund, he restored and expanded the Mexico City policy, he protected groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor against oppressive Obamacare rules, and he supported the nuns in their Supreme Court fight. He implemented the Protect Life Rule, which prohibits federal funds from going to facilities that perform on-site abortions.
Those are positive actions taken by Mr. Trump during his presidency which Joe Biden will seek, to the best of his ability, to undo as soon as possible. Donald Trump was the most pro-life president the United States has ever had. How can I make such a bold statement? Well I think it's probably true since prior to the 1970s, practically everyone thought abortion was wrong anyway. So to say they were anti-abortion or pro-life prior to that would simply mean they were normal people with normal morality.
The difference with Donald Trump is that he was pro-life in an era when doing so is politically and socially dangerous. It's not a topic for which there is automatic agreement among the masses. If he wanted to advance his political career more, he could have been a more standard pro-life-by-default Republican. But he wasn't. He went out of his way to speak about life issues, to defend the innocent. He spoke, in person, at the March for Life - the first time ever for a president.
With Biden, this goes out the window. He is blatantly ignoring his Church's teachings and will seek to increase access to abortion, rather than limit it.
Biden says he will not allow an exception for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the case of paying for abortion and artificial contraception. Think about that for a minute. He will not let a group of nuns with a vow of poverty to not pay for something they are morally opposed to. I can't believe anyone thinks that's okay.
Biden is obviously looking to end the Mexico City Policy which is an American policy of not giving foreign aid to groups in other countries who perform abortion. Basically not funding abortion abroad. If you read the misleading critics, they will claim that by banning this funding you are doing all kinds of other harm. That's an invalid moral argument and meant to muddy the moral waters.
Trump has done innumerable good things when it comes to preventing or slowing down abortion. Biden seems set to abandon them all.
When it comes to free speech and freedom of religion, Trump was one of the best modern-day presidents. Biden, in line with Democrat policies, will crack down on speech he disagrees with and will be a major threat to religious freedom.
In virtually any area that a serious Catholic cares about, Biden is set to make things much worse.
Some people bring up the detention camps on the border and the overall policies concerning refugees as reasons why Catholics should favor Biden. There are many issues with this proposition. First of all, the camps on the border (that were set up by Obama) are not torture chambers, they are processing facilities for people illegally entering into the country without permission.
Think what you will about these facilities, it is not a specific Catholic moral issue. There is legitimate debate about immigration policy. Catholic teaching has things to say about it, but it's not a cut-and-dry case such as with abortion, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Some people seem to think unless the US allows anyone and everyone into the country without question, Catholics must oppose it. This is simply not the case which is affirmed by centuries of writings by saints and theologians.
We have no idea how bad things can get. The plans which have already been announced by Biden are frightening and it will only get worse from here. Catholics have good reason to not be welcoming to a Joe Biden administration.
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