Sunday, July 12, 2009

Newsweek: Obama is more Catholic than Pope; Catholics: No, Newsweek, He's Not

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has an excellent post about a Newsweek article claiming Obama better represents American Catholics better than the Pope does.

To this premise I say: yes and no. There are two points to make here.

1) Average American "Catholicity" is not necessary doctrinally sound. Many American members of the Church of Rome are only nominally so. They hold heretical positions on abortion, sexual practices, marrying outside the church, etc. Insofar as he shares the same views on abortion et al, Obama does better represent so-called American Catholics better than the Pope. But it's in these very areas that American Catholics aren't Catholic.

2) Obama is directly opposed to most devout practicing American Catholics. On abortion, on stem cell research, and on a whole host of issues, Obama stands on one end of the spectrum while these American Catholics are firmly planted on the other end.

Newsweek embraces the bullshit notion that Catholicism is defined by what the members of the church personally hold. Under this concept, a religion is not defined by a certain set of beliefs, adherence to which is necessary if one wants to belongs to said religion. For Newsweek, what it means to be Catholic isn't based on the authoritative teachings of the Popes but on polls of the opinions of the faithful. Unfortunately for Newsweek, the church is a top down organization. No matter what a survey of "American Catholics" believe, it doesn't change what they should believe if they want to continue to call themselves Catholic.

Ultimately, this is just another liberal writer trying to deify teh One and make the Catholic Church look out of touch. This has been going on for years.

I leave you with one last thought. When was the last time Obama went to Church? Maybe he does have more in common with many nominal Catholics than we might think.

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