What is it with Newsweek, lately?
Last February, they triumphantly declared that we’re all Socialists, now. Then Newsweek editor Evan Thomas called Obama ‘a sort of God’ on national t.v., and last week, boldly going where no mag has gone before, Newsweek demoted him to mere Pope. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the author of the sophomoric piece, which most Catholic teenagers would have more sense than to write.
What could possibly possess them to publish this over the top, nonsensical drivel, which amounts to nothing more than defining great religious leadership as bowing to the whims of societal trends? It’s too ridiculous to spend much time on, but Captain Ed did, so I will quote him:
Townsend fills the pages with the usual liberal complaints about the church, including gay rights, abortion, and — this is the best part — a complaint that the church hierarchy doesn’t listen to the congregations and change religious doctrine to match public opinion. She lauds Obama for his ability to “listen” to other points of view, apparently missing the months-long repetition that no one had an alternative to Porkulus when Republicans and Democrats both tried to get votes for smaller and more intelligently-crafted alternatives.
Townsend makes the same mistake about religion that many other Catholics (and not just Catholics) make about it. A church isn’t a democracy, nor is it a nation. The Catholic Church serves what its sees as eternal truths about God, Jesus Christ, and the world, and invites those who believe similarly to join. No one is forced to remain a Catholic anywhere in the world, nor are Lutherans, Episcopalians, and so on. Certainly one can disagree on policy and practices, as many Catholics do, but on doctrine, the church does not take polls.
I would just add that the very idea that Obama is more Catholic than the Pope is a particularly perverse one, given his history defending abortion/infanticide, which the Church never condones. Obama is someone who actually argued that the BAIPA, (which allowed doctors to care for babies who were born after botched abortions) was too much of a burdon on abortionists.
More Catholic than the Pope!
Obama did tell Pope Benedict XVI that he wants to reduce the number of abortions in the US, but as always with him…watch what he does, not what he says.
The Pope, in turn gave Obama a booklet explaining the Vatican’s opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama, of course supports.
More Enchanted Media Moments:
Nice Deb 