The US Catholic bishops talk a lot about the decline in religious commitment and the need for stronger religious values in the public square.
Yet prominent Catholics like Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis engage in political games of incredible cruelty with the lives of migrants — in Abbott's case, right on Christmas Eve.
While the US Catholic bishops remain totally silent….
It's almost as if their words about declining religiosity and moral vaules are just empty, isn't it?
@wdlindsy Have we heard anything about excommunicating Greg Abbott?
I think not.
@chemoelectric You're right: I think not! Nor will we hear a peep from them, as some of them target Biden and Pelosi.
As a body, the US Catholic bishops have failed in their pastoral and moral charge — abysmally so.
@markstuartdavis @chemoelectric
I hate to hear about that experience of abuse. I've heard other stories like that, and have concluded that kind of brutality was often the norm in Catholic schools. Yes, listening to decades of cover up are calculated to push people from the table. It's a morally justifiable response.
We had a Royal Commission here in Australia – an investigation into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. I will never forgive him for this lie.
I told him.
@markstuartdavis @chemoelectric
I read the Royal Comission report — a really good one. Thank you for speaking the truth. I am so sorry for what they put you through. The glib lying is disgusting.
@Sanityreturn2us @chemoelectric
Yes, that sounds right to me.
Yes, statistics show the exodus of Catholics in the US from the Catholic church is larger than the exodus from other churches — though there's a general exodus happening throughout churches in the US, and it has apparently accelerated after more than half of white Christians in the US, across the board, voted twice for Donald Trump.
Why what? I'm sorry, but don't know what you're asking.
@wdlindsy @Language1230
You know something? I'm experiencing some of that touchiness I mentioned before right now.
I see someone trying to bully others into making the subject Christianity, when the subject is actually that Abbott is a monster.
And all I did was say if he weren't a Christian he'd be just as vile to me.
I am a Jew, unbelieving but a Jew.I DO NOT start with the presumption that what is truly Christian is good. So I don't really care about the fake Christianity that much.
I'm sorry you feel bullied, though if you're calling me a bully, you're barking up the wrong tree. I suspect I'm every bit as touchy as you are at the fact that one of our political parties has identified itself with white Christian nationalism and seeks to impose that ideology on a a whole nation in a pluralistic secular democracy.
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I don't see, however, that recognizing that evident fact, talking openly about it, and pushing back against it is an attempt to bully anyone at all. It's an attempt to STOP a certain set of US citizens with a lot of clout now, who are using religious warrants to try to bully the rest of us, from their bullying — including their anti-semitic bullying.
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You may think that it's inappropriate to discuss the topic of religion in connection with pollitics, but the fact is, that topic is out there: it has been put out there by a political party with a white Christian nationalist agenda.
If people of any faith and no faith want to push back against that, I intend to stand with them, because I share their goal of combating the attempt to turn this democracy into a theocracy.
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@wdlindsy @Language1230
To put it another way: as an atheist Jew, I do not have it as a goal to rescue the reputation of Christianity.
If you are recruiting Jews for this purpose, that is proselytizing the Jews.
Since I see my handle on this comment, I assume it's addressed to me. If so, can you please tell me where I have written anything at all indicating I am "recruiting Jews"?
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