So, let me see if I’ve got this right. By 73 percent, Catholic bishops just voted to deny communion to President Joe Biden. Yup, he’s out, along with any other politician who puts their constituents over the dictates of the Catholic Church. This, they insist, is part of core Christian values. And it covers their jobs. It doesn’t matter if that politician follows the rules themselves. Nobody seemed to care about that. Catholic politicians are now required to enforce Catholic dictates over everyone, everywhere. OK, then.
The Post described it this way:
The church is grappling with a decline in the number of adherents to the faith, especially among some millennials, and a sense that by ignoring Catholic politicians who support abortion access it is being asked to compromise on one of the core aspects of its belief.
June 18, 2021, Washington Post, Catholic bishops back document that could lead to limits of Communion for Biden.
Well, huh. Anti-abortion is a core aspect of Catholic belief?
That’s not all. Wikipedia suggests that the modern core Christian values require that we remove sexual imagery and content from books, films, television, and streaming. Christianity, I hear, only allows sexual abstinence outside marriage, to the point that schools can only teach abstinence in sex education. Teaching evolution is also evil. Despite the evidence, intelligent design is the only allowable hypothesis. Christian politicians must reject same-sex marriage or any acceptance of homosexuality in mainstream society. True morality requires systemic discrimination against LGBTQ people in public life. Vaccines are questionable but enforcing Christian prayer on kids in public school is essential. The rubric for all of this highly detailed, legally enforced conduct is ‘religions freedom.’
Look, I know I’ve been out of the church for a while. Can someone tell me what happened to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forgiveness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Some guy named Paul talked about stuff like that. Did those ideas fall out of the core Christian values curriculum?
How about all those lessons to turn the other cheek? Pacifism? Feeding the hungry? Modesty? Did those concepts expire while I was away? I know Republicans aren’t just ignoring hunger; they’re cutting existing food support programs in the name of morality. No votes on Catholic politicians taking food from the hungry. Bless their hearts, the bishops never lost their sharp focus on Biden’s abortion apostasy. So, that’s clearly the greater Christian priority. When did they announce that “kindness and forgiveness” wouldn’t be on the test?
This is the new, modern Christianity. I guess people change? I’d say religion evolves, but, you know, intelligent design. Cruelty must have been God’s plan from the beginning of the universe.
So anyway, Catholics and their new core Christian values: no abortion, no homo marriage, systemic barriers against LGBTQ people, no evolution, no compromise, no coddling of the poor or the unfortunate, lots of shouting, unchecked disease, and a legally mandated program of Christian prayer for every man, woman, and child.
And lots of guns. The Bible must have parables about hidden carry and military-grade rifles. They must be core Christian values as well if I’m to believe my eyes.
