Recently, Donald Trump launched a new line of attack against Joe Biden – not only impugning his faith but also asserting that Biden “hurt God” as if he [Trump] presumed to be God’s spokesperson.
Whether or not you consider yourself to be religious, you most likely know that Joe Biden is a lifelong practicing Catholic who has repeatedly given witness to how his faith has strengthened him through two devastating family tragedies – the deaths of his late wife and daughter due to a car accident and the death of his son Beau Biden to cancer.
The current occupant of the White House said that Biden is “against God” and will “hurt God” and “hurt the Bible.” The day after those attacks, Trump said that Biden could not be a man of “deep religion” because of the Biden campaign’s efforts to work with Senator Bernie Sanders. Note, Senator Sanders has publicly stated that he is a person of faith and often quotes Pope Francis with ease.
The offensive attacks are bitterly ironic because they come from a man who is on record as saying that he doesn’t feel he has to ask God for forgiveness – contrary to a foundational practice within the Abrahamic and other world religions.
But there’s more. In June, Trump ousted an Episcopal seminarian from St. John’s Episcopal Church in order to create a photo op in front of the church. Prior to that event, his administration had peaceful demonstrators tear-gassed and at the photo op, he awkwardly held the Bible upside down.
Then, the next day he violated “our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people, even those with whom we might disagree,” as Archbishop Wilton Gregory said in criticizing Trump for using the Saint John Paul II National Shrine as a prop for a photo-op.
His relationship with religious faith is in marked contrast to Vice President Biden’s, who repeatedly speaks of the nuns who taught him and Pope Francis and carries a rosary with him.
Whether or not you think of yourself as a person of faith, as someone involved in politics you likely understand the importance of faith in the public square, especially in an election year.
The United States remains a religious country. As our national per capita GDP has increased, we have not experienced the commensurate decline in religious metrics experienced by other developed nations. Even many of those who see no place for faith in politics recognize that faith is still important to most Americans and therefore a significant consideration, at times, in the appropriate framing of political issues. This is one of those times.
So it is important to stand in solidarity with Joe Biden as a person of faith. We cannot stand by as Trump and his minions on the Right seek to cast aspersions on Biden and seek to destroy his good name as a person of faith.
To that end, Catholic Democrats has launched a statement of support to stand with Vice President Biden and against someone who is politicizing God and presumes to speak on His/Her behalf:
A Catholic Statement of Support for Joe Biden – A Witness to Faith
We the undersigned, as people of faith – Catholic and non-Catholic alike – deplore the recent politicization of God by the 45th president. [1]
For his own political gain, he sacrilegiously presumed to speak on behalf of the Father in seeking to impugn the Catholic core of Joe Biden’s identity by asserting that a man known for his kindness, compassion, and empathy “hurt God” and was “against God.” [2]
While some of us may personally know the vice president, most of us do not. However, we all believe that over the course of his life, Joe Biden has learned to “walk humbly with [his] God.” [3]
You can read the entire statement and support Joe Biden here: https://www.tfaforms.com/4844521
Although I think the ‘president’ made these statements as much as a distraction as a bid for Catholic votes, they have to be knocked down.
Thank you for doing so very effectively.
If he thinks any mere mortal can “hurt God” he does not know God very well. God is a big boy; He can take care of Himself.
First, thanks for posting this. I am pleased that Catholic Democrats saw fit to post this at BMG.
Joe Biden, however, has absolutely nothing to answer for here. When Donald Trump speaks of religion, his or anyone else’s, the only story is his own blatant hypocrisy — not the faith of anyone else.
Just one more clarification: some twenty priests and lay volunteers on the grounds of St. John’s Church were in fact tear-gassed, driven off the premises.
Agreed Charley. No contest between a faithful Catholic who has turned to the church for comfort in the face of profound tragedy and an idolatrous sybarite who had a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand and held the Bible upside after desecrating a church.
Only those Catholics and other Christians who narrow our religion to
promote the subjugation of women and the ostracizing of queer believers could find fault with Joe Biden. Otherwise his values of decency, tolerance, and solidarity are exactly what the Church preaches.
On the day Mr. Trump made this outrageous statement, Chris Cuomo used his prime-time show to offer this outrage as evidence that Donald Trump is “mentally impaired” (https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/08/07/cuomo-open-trump-biden-god-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn):
It is the first time I’ve seen a major media figure make a statement like this.
Of course, accusations of hurting God and hurting the Bible should once again be construed as projection on Trump’s part.