Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin once said Catholics should avoid LGBTQ Pride events during June since they’re “especially harmful for children.” I repeat: A Catholic priest had the audacity to accuse other people of hurting kids.
This was the same guy whose former diocese was named in the Pennsylvania grand jury report about sexual abuse in the Church and who reacted to the news by saying it wasn’t his responsibility to do anything about the allegations he knew about.
So naturally, he has some dumb political opinions as well.
Biden-Harris. First time in awhile that the Democratic ticket hasn’t had a Catholic on it. Sad.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) August 11, 2020
While Kamala Harris is Baptist, Biden is Catholic. He’s always been Catholic. I was tempted to assume Tobin was merely writing off Biden because he supports pro-choice policies… but Biden was Catholic in 2008 and 2012, too. He didn’t suddenly stop being one since leaving office. So I have no idea what Tobin is talking about.
Both Democrats on the ticket are religious. That won’t stop conservatives from pretending they’re godless (as if that’s a bad thing). But it’s a ridiculous strategy when Biden has always talked about how much his faith means to him and when Donald Trump — hardly a devout Christian — has the backing of religious conservatives.
And while I’m aware the Catholic Church rules from the top down, Biden’s positions on issues like abortion and marriage equality are far more in line with the thinking of most U.S. Catholics than the Church hierarchy. So if he doesn’t count as a Catholic, neither do most Catholics.
The hypocrisy is absurd. They don’t give a damn about religion. They care about GOP political power. It’s always been about that. And now that their usual attack anti-Democrat lines don’t work, they have no clue what to do.
