Politically Correct Bigotry
When Amy Coney Barrett was being considered for a position on the 7th Circuit Court, she was vilified by the usual advocacy groups and by some Senators on the Judiciary Committee . . . because she is a Catholic. Biden and Pelosi and Durbin are also Catholics, but Amy is different. She is a DEVOUT Catholic. She has seven kids (five of her own plus two adopted). She probably even subscribes to the Church’s teachings on the subject of abortion. She is a member of People of Praise, a group of gung-ho Christians that actually subscribes to the Nicene Creed!
Democratic politicians seem intent on not doing a rerun of Catholic bashing when it comes to the vetting for a Supreme Court seat because they don’t want to alienate Catholic voters in swing states, but the activist gaggle is hard at work demonizing her faith. Whether the politicians can contain themselves remains to be seen.
In fairness, the Catholic Church has turned itself into a ripe target for bashing. The core product of Holy Mother Church is moral authority. The clergy are anointed as intermediaries between the faithful and divinity. When the seminaries failed to screen out sexual predators and the hierarchy responded to their abominations with a comprehensive and decades long cover-up, the brand was terminally trashed.
However, that is not the core of the religious bigotry that is now a part of our culture. Until a few decades ago, America was a Christian country. Virtually everyone at least pretended to be a believer. The establishment was some form of mainline Protestant. Catholics were second class citizens but tolerated and gradually admitted into the establishment. Due to the horrors of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism went into hiding. Adherents to fringe cults (Mormons) and eastern sects were tolerated in the name of First Amendment rights. Atheists and agnostics kept quiet. All that is now changed. Most Protestant denominations have got themselves in line with the pieties of the day. Respect for Islam means you’re WOKE (but no WOKE person would consider converting to Islam). Most right thinking people have disdain for Christianity. Many of the remaining Catholics are of the cafeteria variety. Evangelicals and devout Catholics now fall into Hillary’s basket of deplorables. That’s where Amy belongs. Election imperatives may prevent a lot of Democrats from saying so, but only for the next six weeks.
Any American who is serious about citizenship should take the First Amendment seriously. Religious expression is a core right that should be respected by all. Atheists and Evangelicals should be equal in the eyes of the law and deserve respectful consideration by fellow citizens. Bigotry of all kinds is a heinous thing.
