Posted on 10/12/2012 6:31:41 AM PDT by marshmallow
During their only debate this campaign season Thursday night, Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) discussed how their Catholic beliefs have shaped their views on abortion.
“Please talk about how you came to that decision,” asked debate moderator Martha Raddatz, ABC’s senior foreign correspondent. “Talk about how your religion played a part in that. And, please, this is such an emotional issue for so many people in this country.
In the only debate between the candidates, Biden and Ryan discussed their views on domestic issues such as the economy, foreign policy and the role of the vice president. Biden and Ryan faced off in the sole vice-presidential debate from Centre College in Danville, Ky.
“I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith,” Ryan said. “Our faith informs us in everything we do. My faith informs me about how to take care of the vulnerable, of how to make sure that people have a chance in life.”
“Now, you want to ask basically why I’m pro-life? It’s not simply because of my Catholic faith. That’s a factor, of course. But it’s also because of reason and science.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Would the LSM ever ask that same question of 0 and Myth?
Apparently Biden sneered and laughed during Mass while Ryan listened and learned.
But that is exactly what Catholic politicians do when supporting abortion. They want the virtue of religious belief in one box and the payoff of political practice in another, one quite separate from the other.
That someone like Ryan actually has to make such a statement in public is a testimony to the shallow morality of the political class. That a persons religious beliefs would inform their actions was once taken for granted and thus became a factor in voting either for or against them.
Now in the campaigns to even hint at such is taboo and invites charges of bigotry and “fundamentalism”.
Ryan makes a good point, Of what value is claiming a faith that does NOT inform a persons actions?
Pundits, as usual, are missing the real turning point of the night. It came during the answers to this question.
Ryan’s response was sincere, direct, personal, and...authentically Catholic.
Biden’s reponse was essentially to say that his Catholicism was less important to him than his liberalism.
But even worse than that, he used this deeply personal question to claim that Ryan had “violated Catholic social doctrine,” presumably for not supporting redistributive economic policies.
Now...can you imagine the uproar if Ryan had taken the opportunity to lecture Biden on the fact that his support for abortion-on-demand means that he is ipso facto ex-communicated??? One of the basic truisms in ANY public discussion about religion is that you don’t judge your opponents faithfulness. Now, Biden’s snarky, meanspirited attack may appeal to atheists and liberals, but any Catholic who heard it must have reacted with a bit of disgust. You just don’t go there. Politicians don’t get to decide who violates church doctrine; bishops do.
If Catholics were tuned in to the final minutes of the debate, they clearly saw the difference between someone who will act in accord with his faith and someone who sees his faith as a tool to get elected at best and an hinderance to liberal orthodoxy at worst. This could move some votes in a key demographic.
>While he accepts the church’s doctrine when it comes to abortion, he refuses to “impose that on others.”
I wish he would feel the same about his idiotic economic views.
If that’s the way Biden really feels, he should not present himself for Holy Communion. I hope the Church responds to this contrast. As a taxpayer don’t ask me to pay for someone else’s abortion, that would make me complicit in a mortal sin. Biden’s answer made me think of the gates of hell.
I would think forcing Catholic institutions (hospitals, schools, colleges, adoption agencies, etc) to pay for abortion would be imposing his views on others!
**But that is exactly what Catholic politicians do when supporting abortion.**
I hope you noticed that Ryan did NOT support abortion!
You can’t speak in blanket statements for ALL Catholics when you post here......or are you?
The Bishop of Denver has told Biden not to receive Communion in his diocese. Will it happen in Biden’s home diocese?
We need to pray for that bishop to have a spine.
He made clear his opposition to abortion, no question. and no I don't make blanket assessments (try not to).
A bit of history lesson. There had never been a Catholic President before Kennedy, Quaker, Unitarian, unknown, but no Catholics.
Kennedy felt he had to promise publicly that being a Catholic was a thing apart from being President, a position providing cover for anything he wished to do.
Religion would be one box, practicing politics in another and never the twain shall meet.
That is a widespread view but particularly amongst Catholic politicians that DO support abortion, leaning upon both their religion and political philosophy.
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