There’s been some confusion about journalists labeling Joe Biden a “devout Catholic.” For those of you who luckily don’t work in the media industry, let me fill you in.
A “devout Catholic” is a politician who claims to be Catholic, yet dissents from the church’s social teaching on causes that are near and dear to leftist pundits. So, on the one hand, Biden supports taxpayer-funded abortion, has officiated at a same-sex wedding, and vowed to force nuns to buy the Pill. On the other, he wears a rosary around his wrist, which according to CNN makes him Mother Teresa in a blue blazer.
Meanwhile, a public figure who upholds Catholic social teaching—Amy Coney Barrett, for instance—is not “devout,” but an extremist. Hopefully, that clears things up.
Now, far be it from me to judge Biden’s faith. That’s between him, his confessor, and God. Yet the former vice president surely opens himself to criticism by constantly touting the depth of his Catholic faith while publicly flouting every one of its teachings.
Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to have another Catholic in the White House. But that assumes a President Biden would govern like a Catholic, and not a generic liberal Democrat, which seems doubtful.
A Rabidly Anti-Catholic Veep
What’s even more dangerous to American Catholics than Biden is his number two. Kamala Harris, the newly minted Democratic candidate for vice president, is the most anti-Catholic politician to serve in public office since the decline of the Know Nothing movement in the 19th century.
Strong words, but true. Two years ago, Harris grilled a gentleman named Brian Buescher over his membership to the Knights of Columbus during a Senate hearing. President Trump had nominated Buescher to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court in Nebraska. During her interview, Harris asked Buescher:
Since 1993, you have been a member of the Knights of Columbus, an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men. In 2016, Carl Anderson, leader of the Knights of Columbus, described abortion as ‘a legal regime that has resulted in more than 40 million deaths.’ Mr. Anderson went on to say that ‘abortion is the killing of the innocent on a massive scale.’ Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?
Buescher calmly replied, “I do not recall if I was aware whether the Knights of Columbus had taken a position on the abortion issue when I joined at the age of eighteen.” The answer, for those playing at home, is Yes. The Knights of Columbus, as a Catholic fraternal organization, have opposed abortion since the order was established in 1882. So as has the Catholic Church since it was founded circa 33 A.D.
Harris also asked if Buescher was “aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?” In fairness, probably not. In 1993, not even half of Americans thought two people of the same sex should even be allowed to, you know, become intimate. In 1996 (the earliest poll I could find), only about one-quarter of Americans supported same-sex marriage.
Once again, the Knights’ stance on marriage—that it can only exist between one man and one woman ‘til death—isn’t something they just made up. It’s the official position of the Catholic Church. It’s why Henry VIII split from Rome in 1534, and it’s why Harris tried to bar Buescher from serving in a U.S. District Court in 2018. That, in journalese, is called “progress.”
Shielding Campaign Donors Who Sell Baby Parts
Harris enjoys a 100 percent approval rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, and received more than $80,000 in donations from abortion providers. Little wonder, then, that she spent her time as attorney general of California launching spurious prosecutions against pro-life activists.
In 2015, Daniel Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress began recording conversations with Planned Parenthood employees, wherein the abortion provider admitted to selling aborted fetuses. The selling of human body parts is not only disgusting and immoral, it’s also completely illegal. But once Daleiden released the video, Harris’s office prosecuted Daleiden.
According to the AG’s office, Daleiden had broken the law by recording and publishing a “confidential” conversation. Yet conversations that “may be overheard” are not considered confidential, according to California state law. The Planned Parenthood officials testified under oath that their chats with Daleiden had taken place in public and could have easily been overheard by passers-by. They had taken no measures to maintain confidentiality.
Yet not only did Harris bring charges against the journalist, she ordered a raid on his home. Police seized his laptop and hard drives in a brazen disregard for the rights of the free press.
Since clearly nothing Daleiden had done was illegal, and since the damage to Planned Parenthood was already done, Harris’s motives were clear. She was taking revenge on a reporter who had embarrassed her friends in the abortion industry. She was assuring her donors that she would use her office to silence pro-life voices. She was proving to her allies her willingness to break the law to cover up their crimes.
This is how brazenly Harris acted as attorney general of California. Now consider how much more damage she could do as president of the United States.
It hardly seems unlikely. If Biden wins in November, he will be the oldest president in American history on the day he’s inaugurated. If he won a second term, he would be 86 by the time he leaves office. Considering how much presidents age in office—and I don’t mean to be cruel—it would be astonishing if Biden survived his first term.
Kamala As President Is a Real Possibility
Look: I admit, I like Biden. I wouldn’t vote for him over Vlad the Impaler, but I think he’s a genuinely decent man. And I like to think I would’ve said the same thing when he was in his bloom.
The thing is, he’s not. Biden is a venerable elder statesman, but venerable elder statesmen are supposed to retire to the coast of Maine, write their memoirs, and build model trains. The Oval Office is no place for a man of his age and dubious mental faculties.
Whether or not Biden lasts to 2024, we all know Harris will be the power behind his throne—the éminence grise haunting the White House, using the full force of the federal government to advance her radical agenda. While she may pose as the Martin Luther King of her generation, a Harris administration would pose the greatest threat to Catholics’ civil liberties since the decline of the Ku Klux Klan.
We mustn’t be afraid to say so. Kamala Harris is a vengeful religious bigot. American Catholics have a right—a duty—to insist that our countrymen set aside their partisan loyalties and join us in defending our First Amendment rights.
If the Democrats win in America, my coreligionists and I will face systemic discrimination from the federal government. That is something no patriotic American may countenance, no matter how “devout.”
