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TechnoratiPresidential elections are a revealing time in American life: the “silly season” they are often rightly called. Yet, such a time may also force discussion of issues that otherwise evade public consciousness. This is true for religious people as well.
Millions of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and others have tried to come to terms with what their own faith implies for what they should do on Election Day. Intensifying the matter is the way in which the parties court their votes by subtly appealing to a variety of religious sensibilities without crossing that invisible line that exists in a society that values religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
The repeated theologically untutored commentaries of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on what the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church on the matter of abortion is or is not, ensured an ongoing dialogue on religion and society in general and the Catholic Church in particular. It also made the work of pro-Obama Catholics more difficult as they saw scores of Catholic bishops -- even some known for their moderation -- publicly correct these misstatements.
A wide range of forums were scheduled to address these issues, and I've received my share of invitations to speak at them. So it was that I received from a Ms. Stephanie Beck Borden an invitation to a symposium on "Catholics and the 2008 Presidential Election" sponsored by the innocuously named Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, of which she is the Ohio director. Upon further inquiry I was told that her group was “a non-partisan organization and our board represents a diverse cross-section of people across the political spectrum.” I was informed that the exchange was to be “moderated” by Gail Collins, an opinion writer for the New York Times, and Joe Feuerherd of the National Catholic Reporter.
At this point I was skeptical of the organizer’s self-description, so I made a further inquiry only to discover that other invitees reside squarely within this camp as well, including Fr. Thomas Reese of Georgetown, the former editor of America magazine, and Douglas Kmiec, author of “Can Catholics Support Him?” (I will presume you know to whom ‘him’ refers, as well as what Kmiec’s answer to the question was.)
The Catholic Alliance web site contains the usual progressive litanies, focused on ending poverty and war (I hope they succeed), and promotes various links to papers attacking "excessive wealth" and endorsing rights to safe working environment, unions, and jobs. There is also a doctrinal endorsement of what can only be considered the conventional environmentalist agenda, plus a disarmament campaign on foreign policy.
But when I pressed Ms. Beck Borden, she seemed surprised by the notion that I might question her objectivity and said that the co-sponsoring organization (The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue) was “committed to, well, dialogue” and as if to add a final assurance said, “The Center is housed on the campus of Xavier University which can hardly be considered a den of liberalism.”
My point is not to argue with the stated agenda or even the progressive approach to religion and politics (that could wait for the forum). What I take issue with is why Ms. Beck Borden was so reluctant to state it. One would be naïve not to notice that it is, in fact, a left-tinged agenda. There is nothing wrong with that as such. But why not say, “Fr. Sirico, my comrades and I are hoping to gain some credibility for our positions among those Catholics wavering about voting for Obama by inviting you to an event we are organizing in order to gang up on you and perhaps another conservative in front of our student body, and we would like you to come for the party”? Continue »
