Recent Religion + Politics Commentary: "Pro-Life" Movement, Christian Nationalism, Southern Baptists and United Methodists, Leonard Leo and New USCCB President

Here are some valuable articles I've read in the past week or two about religion and politics and their intersection:

As Respect for Marriage Act Passes Senate, Religious Groups (Even Mormons) Support it — But Not U.S. Catholic Bishops

PRRI, "New Survey Shows Strong Support for LGBTQ Rights Championed in the Equality Act"

As the Respect for Marriage Act gained Senate confirmation, Shawna Chen wrote ("Over 20 religious groups call on Senate to codify same-sex marriage") about the more than twenty religious groups that urged the Senate to protect same-sex and interracial marriages. Chen ended her report by stating, 

Commentary on Respect for Marriage Act and How Religious Groups — Notably, U.S. Catholic Bishops — Are Dealing with This Issue

PRRI, "Support for Nondiscrimination Protections for LGBTQ People, by Religious Affiliation, 2015-2021"

An offering of interrelated articles commenting on the Senate vote to advance the Respect for Marriage Act and how religious groups — notably, the U.S. Catholic bishops — are dealing with this issue:

In the Midst of Global Catholic Crisis, Look at Whom U.S. Catholic Bishops Choose as Their Leaders

James Tissot's "Jésus Pleura," Brooklyn Museum, New York, Wikimedia Commons

The Catholic church globally is facing the biggest crisis it has faced since the Reformation. This is a deep crisis of credibility, in which increasing numbers of the faithful find it impossible to trust, admire, or follow the pastoral leaders of the Catholic church, and, in growing numbers, even to retain any living connection to the Catholic institution. In the midst of this historic crisis, whom do the chief shepherds of the Catholic church in the U.S., its bishops, choose to be leader of their bishops' conference? Here's an exerpt from a report of Brian Fraga at National Catholic Reporter:

Open Sedition from Their "Pro-Life" Party and an End-of-Office "Killing Spree": US Catholic Bishops Turn Their Big Guns vs. Hymn "All Are Welcome"

Well, at least the US Catholic bishops are no longer babbling on about and pretending that all are welcome.

Robert P. Jones's Commentary on the "Historical Record of Lived Christianity in America," White Supremacy, and the Recent Sojourners Débacle

An important contribution (and subtext) of Robert P. Jones's new book White Too Long is its focus on how white Christianity is lived in the US — as opposed to what churches say about themselves or profess in their official statements. As Jones states,

The historical record of lived Christianity in America reveals that Christian theology and institutions have been the central cultural tent pole holding up the very idea of white supremacy (p. 6).

George Floyd Killed by Police, Catholic Bishops' President Takes Six Days to Speak; Supreme Court Forbids Workplace Discrimination Vs. LGBTQ People, USCCB Instantly Finds Its Voice

Police kill George Floyd, Archbishop Gomez responds six days later; SCOTUS files a ruling about LGBT people, Gomez responds six hours later. https://t.co/LHMFVHp1Wo

— Dan Cosacchi (@dcosacchi) June 15, 2020

New York Times, "Gay Rights Are Civil Rights":

The vote was 6 to 3. It should have been unanimous.

I Refuse to Hate: People of Faith Challenge GOP Racism, or What's Wrong with the U.S. Catholic Bishops?!

Chris Morley comments on Bilgrimage,

As U.S. Bishops (Some of Them) Pray Together, Twitter Comments: "Through It All, and Still Today, the Bishops Have Attempted to Deflect Blame for the Crisis Onto Others"

Demonstrators lined up outside a Catholic bishops' retreat in suburban Mundelein to protest church officials’ handling of sexual abuse allegations. https://t.co/SlIFES370u pic.twitter.com/Qvzz4sRlw8

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) January 6, 2019

Twitter keeps talking about the pray-and-repent retreat of the U.S. Catholic bishops this past week, and I keep finding tweets I think are worth sharing with you. In the thread below, I've repeated one I've already shared from Michael J. O'Loughlin, in tandem with ones from Michael Bayer and Legionary of Christ priest Father Matthew to illustrate a point one constantly encounters in discussions of Catholic matters online: where does the truth lie? When one person's set of facts appears flatly to contradict another person's set of facts — and those peddling false information almost never apologize for doing so and retract their, em, well, perhaps it's uncharitable to call them lies, but….

Tweets About the Bishops' Retreat: "Secrecy, Hypocrisy, and an Arrogant Refusal to Be Held Accountable"

Things are likely to be tense when the US Catholic bishops meet at their closed-door retreat near Chicago this week. The credibility of the president of the U.S. bishops' was just called into question with the leak of a Vatican letter. https://t.co/myU3QVCBx1

— Laurie Goodstein (@lauriegnyt) January 2, 2019

Here's a selection of tweets commenting on the U.S. Catholic bishops' retreat in Chicago — with one or two comments focusing on the state of the U.S. Catholic church in general:

U.S. Catholic Bishops Meet for Prayer-and-Repentance Confab: Some Valuable Responses

DiNardo, who is credibly accused of declining to report abuse in his own diocese, is currently US Bishops president. @pontifex’s entire effort means nothing unless every prelate who enabled a priest to assault a child is removed. #TheFishRotsFromTheHeadhttps://t.co/TTe5q5JgDL

— Indie Theology (@IndieTheology) January 4, 2019

As the American Catholic bishops meet in Chicago for their prayer-and-repentance confab, here are some responses/commentary I have read in the last day or so that catch my eye, and which I want to pass on to you:

Breaking News: Authorities Raid Offices of Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese

A significant footnote to what I posted earlier today about how Catholic pastoral leaders have moved beyond the point of no return with the abuse horror show: this morning, criminal authorities are raiding the offices of the Catholic diocese of Galveston-Houston. According to news reports, they are looking for the secret archives that canon law mandates dioceses keep regarding abuse allegations.

This is a highly significant story because this is the diocese of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, current president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference. As the news report at the head of the posting states, this is also unprecedented action in the U.S.

Point of no return, indeed.

Commentary on U.S. Bishops' Meeting: "The Moral Credibility of Catholic Bishops in the United States Is in Tatters"

Barry Blitt's "Welcome to Congress" cover for New Yorker, 9 November 2018

Now if a knock-off cover could only be produced, showing all those whited-out men in suits as the Catholic bishops at their latest meeting….

With the Catholic Bishops, It's Always Someone Else's Sin That's Responsible for the Abuse Crisis: A Response to the Bishops' Prayer-and-Fasting Regime

During the next seven days, bishops across the U.S. will dedicate themselves to intensified prayer and fasting. We pray for victims of clergy sexual abuse, the conversion and just punishment of perpetrators and concealers of sexual abuse, and the strength to be holy shepherds. pic.twitter.com/xGvHLSWoU7

— US Catholic Bishops (@USCCB) November 5, 2018

  

The preceding announcement is a prelude to the gathering of the U.S. Catholic bishops that will occur next week in Baltimore. Catholic News Service editor Julie Asher tweeted the following yesterday on behalf of the bishops:

Commentary: On Youth Synod Opening Door to LGBTQ Community (?!); On Latest McCarrick Revelations; On "Signs of the Times"

Some meandering thoughts and mini-rants this morning:

Me, Talking Back to National Catholic Reporter and Michael Sean Winters re: Resignation of Donald Wuerl

Wuerl hounded from office for becoming face of abuse crisis https://t.co/N2pHeSpgcP via @ncronline

"He has been for 30 years a force of nature in the Catholic Church in this country, a workhorse for the conference and for the Vatican and for the dioceses he served." /1

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) October 12, 2018

Crux on Cardinal McCarrick's "Sexually Deviant Behavior": U.S. Catholic Church Continues to Be Unsafe for LGBTQ People

I went to bed last night more than a little troubled by something Crux reporter Christopher White states in his report on a presentation John Carr has just given at Georgetown's Initiative for Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The presentation is entitled "Confronting a Moral Catastrophe: Lay Leadership, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Sexual Abuse Crisis." In his lecture, Carr, who was previously Director of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Department on Justice, Peace and Human Development, and who has been a friend of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, revealed that he had been sexually abused by priests as a minor seminarian. John Carr is a married Catholic layman with children.

USCCB, Delete Your Account: Lay Catholics Respond to Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report

USCCB, delete your account. https://t.co/dkvQTJPfiO

— 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙳. 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚢 (@wdlindsy) August 16, 2018

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: "Religious Liberty Was Never Intended to Give One Religion . . . Veto Power Over the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of Others"

Anne Hilt, "Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet"

Martin R. Castro, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in the newly released USCCR report (pdf), Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties:

Commentary on U.S. Catholic Bishops and "Religious Liberty" Crusade As "Fortnight for Freedom" Begins: "Fair to Say Religious Liberty Has a Damaged 'Brand' These Days"

This week, the U.S. Catholic bishops began their latest "Fortnight for Freedom" shindig, whose purpose is to drive Catholic voters to the polls to vote Republican (as they claim) to defend a "religious liberty" now under siege because gay people have the legal right to marry civilly, because the Obama administration is mandating contraceptive coverage in its Affordable Care Act, because denying rights, goods, and services to targeted others while claiming that one has a religious warrant to discriminate is increasingly distasteful to more and more Americans, etc.