Liberal Anti-Catholicism And The Right To Choose Abortion.

I haven't encountered much anti-Catholicism in my life. Just the occasional criticism by non-demoninational Christians who believe that Catholicism is a false religion because it is "non-Biblical." When I was young my family would joke among ourselves about weapons stored in the Church basement in anticipation of the Pope's command to take over the United States. We joked about that but it's part of real anti-Catholicism in the United States to question the loyalty of Catholics to the country and the constitution. John Kennedy had to overcome that suspicion in order to become the first Catholic President. But that was over 40 years ago.

So imagine how shocking it must be to Catholic ears to hear what Mario Cuomo, a Catholic politician, no less, said this weekend about what questions it is appropriate to ask of John Roberts, a Catholic, and nominee for the Supreme Court:

Finally, Judge Scalia. Now, there's a Republican conservative, if there ever was one, on the bench. Judge Scalia dealt with this--tangentially, but he dealt with it--on the subject of the death penalty. He said judges, Catholic judges, may be bothered in their conscience in voting for the death penalty because the pope has said that it is evil. He said under those circumstances, the Catholic judge should resign. There is no question it's relevant. Everybody takes an oath to support the Constitution, including especially judges. So why not ask them: "Will you, Judge, apply a religious test to the Constitution? Will you start by saying, `I'm not going to support the Constitution if my pope tells me not to'?

(Meet the Press transcript is here.)

Yes, why not ask a Catholic judge or politician whether he will violate his oath to uphold the constitution if the pope tells him to? After all, everybody knows that's what the pope does. He spends his days telephoning Catholic politicians in America to give them instructions on how to subvert the constitution.

Cuomo's comment is about as offensive a statement as can be made about Catholics in America. Yet it's of a pace with other comments made by Democratic politicians about religion and judges. But where Cuomo baldly says Catholic judges should be asked directly where their loyalties lie, others use code words to question whether those with deeply held personal beliefs can be trusted as judges.

Of course, what this is really about is the so-called "right to choose" and the Democratic Party's excessive devotion to that right. Once, before Roe v. Wade warped politics in this country, the Democratic Party paved the way for Catholics in this country when John Kennedy ran for President and won. No longer. Instead, today's Democratic Party's devotion to abortion leads it to traffic in anti-Catholicism.

-tdr