The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
Bishop Thomas Tobin wrongly criticizes Joe Biden, claiming he is not Catholic because he supports a womanโs right to choose.
Bishop Tobin is not a constitutional scholar, is not a leader within a political party, and is not a governmental official.
It is thus understandable that the bishop does not appreciate that the U.S. Constitution โ which is the supreme law of the land in the United States of America โ is not a Catholic document nor a Christian document, but rather a secular document.
Mr. Biden, former vice president and Democratic nominee for president of the United States, has opined that the U.S. Constitution affords a woman the right to decide for herself โ rather than have the government decide for her โ whether to have an abortion.
Mr. Biden does not support abortion. He does not suggest that the Catholic Church supports or should support abortion. He certainly does not suggest that God condones abortion or even that it is not a sin. Mr. Bidenโs opinion relates to the Constitution, not the Church.
The U.S. is a country that was founded on religious freedom. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects religious exercise and religious beliefs, as well as religious speech. It also bans the establishment of a national religion.
Neither Catholicism nor any type of Christianity is or may be a state religion. Americans come from and practice all manner of religious backgrounds and beliefs, including agnosticism and atheism.
All these religious practices and beliefs are protected.
To suggest that a public official or candidate for public office must or should impose Catholic religious doctrine (or any other religious doctrine) in governing is anti-American. All public officials must swear to uphold the Constitution. That is a condition of them governing. So, if the Constitution conflicts with their personal religious beliefs, they must put their personal beliefs aside while in office.
The bishop wrongly denounces Joe Biden as not being a Catholic because Biden has expressed his opinion about a right afforded under the U.S. Constitution โ an opinion supported by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. But Biden is not only Catholic, he also is American. And, in the American political and governing sphere, he is obligated to refrain from enforcing his religionโs doctrine at the expense of the Constitution.
It would be appropriate for the bishop to personally counsel Mr. Biden as to what he should recommend to the women in his life in regards to abortion as a husband and father. And it would be appropriate for the bishop to personally counsel Mr. Biden as to his relationship with God and whether he should seek office in America, given the fact that the Constitution conflicts with Catholic teaching and he must swear to uphold the Constitution when in office.
But the bishop should not enter the public, political arena to express condemnation of Mr. Biden or anyone else for being a patriotic American upholding the Constitution.
If the bishop doesnโt like the Constitution and genuinely wishes to enter the political sphere to make abortion unlawful in this country, then he should speak out about that, and seek to have the Constitution amended.
He should actually do some work in that vein, rather than merely pontificating and engaging in unwarranted character assassination.
