‘Biden Report for Catholic Voters’ Slams Candidate’s Record on Key Issues
A Catholic advocacy group has published a scathing review of Joe Biden’s political record on issues considered vitally important to conscientious Catholics.
The 93-page “Biden Report for Catholic Voters” was produced by the conservative CatholicVote organization and purports to offer “a comprehensive examination of Joe Biden’s 47-years in public life from a Catholic perspective.”
“Today Joe Biden is running for president as a prominent U.S. Catholic with regular references to his faith and Catholic upbringing, citations of popes, and purported embrace of Catholic moral values,” the report states, and yet on the 8 issues most important to Catholics Mr. Biden has proved himself “hostile” to the faith.
The report examines Mr. Biden’s stance on the issues of life, judges, work, religious freedom, health care, marriage, education, and immigration as well as the evolution and radicalization of his positions over his lengthy political career.
Regarding education, for instance, Biden has “opposed school choice as vice president and as a presidential candidate, in opposition to the policy goals of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and a direct violation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” despite sending his own children to private school.
On the matter of life, Joe Biden “now represents the most pro-abortion presidential nominee in American history” after a major shift to the left over his career.
“Today, as a presidential candidate, Biden says he would permanently codify Roe v. Wade into law,” the report states, and has vowed to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from funding abortions.
Mr. Biden is also hostile to religious freedom, the report states, and has sought to “prohibit faith-based foster care and adoption agencies from receiving federal funds” as well as opposing “protections for religious institutions to qualify for federal contracts.”
When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor last July, Mr. Biden criticized the decision and promised to reverse the religious protections guaranteed by the Court. “As disappointing as the Supreme Court’s ruling is, there is a clear path to fixing it: electing a new President who will end Donald Trump’s ceaseless attempts to gut every aspect of the Affordable Care Act,” Biden said.
In sum, Mr. Biden’s record of public service is “anti-Catholic,” CatholicVote president Brian Burch told Catholic News Agency (CNA) on September 15.
“We stand with our Catholic bishops in making clear that no person has a right to judge a person’s soul, or relationship with God,” Burch said. “Instead we are fulfilling our obligation as Catholic laypersons in defending the time-honored truths of our Faith, publicly and repeatedly cast aside by Mr. Biden over the past 47 years.”
CatholicVote is not alone in its sharp criticism of Mr. Biden’s platform.
In August, CNA examined seven key policies Joe Biden is running on in the election and found that all but one — the death penalty — run counter to Catholic teaching.
Compounding Biden’s Catholic problem is his choice of Kamala Harris as running mate and the National Catholic Registerwarned last month that this decision may hurt his appeal with religious voters due to her “aggressive pro-abortion and anti-religious freedom record.”
In her August 15 essay, Lauretta Brown noted that Harris’s stance on a number of issues directly collides with Catholic teaching and thus could “spell trouble for his efforts to appeal to religious voters.”