By in Rhode
Island’s Future
When Bishop Thomas Tobin cracks his whip on Catholic
politicians, it doesn’t serve his cause well. Remember when he managed to make a martyr out
of even Congressman Patrick Kennedy?
Tobin hasn’t denied Democratic nominee Gina Raimondo
communion, but the Republican bishop did offer a passive rebuke to the Catholic
candidate for governor after
she won the endorsement of Planned Parenthood. He didn’t mention her by name,
but the timing left little doubt.
The very reason Catholics were distrusted in this
country in the 1800s and the early 1900s is because Catholics were presumed to
be anti-democratic in their allegiance to a foreign king (the Pope) and it was
assumed that they would attempt to impose their Catholic values on everyone in
the event that they achieved political power.
It was John Kennedy who broke this trend, when he
gave his famous speech to a meeting of Texas Baptists in which he said that his
allegiance was to America, and that the wall of separation between church and
state must be high and strong. In bucking the tradition established by JFK,
Tobin seeks to take Catholicism back to a time when it was politically
irrelevant.
We do not live in a Catholic theocratic state. Most
Rhode Islanders, by a factor of 8 to 1, support a woman’s right to make her own
decisions regarding her reproductive health care, including abortion.
Many
religious traditions are not in agreement with the Catholic Church on
reproductive rights issues. It would be unconstitutional for government to
favor the Catholic hierarchy’s position on this issue, and foolish of us to pay
Tobin’s declarations much mind when we can’t be sure if he is expressing
himself religiously or politically.
Steve
Ahlquist is a writer, artist and current president of the Humanists
of Rhode Island, a non-profit group dedicated to reason, compassion, optimism,
courage and action. He also maintains the blog SteveAhlquist.com where almost
all his writing can be found. The views expressed are his own and not
necessarily those of any organization of which he is a member.
His photos and video are usable under the Creative
Commons license. Free to share with credit.
Email: atomicsteve@gmail.com
Twitter: @SteveAhlquist
Twitter: @SteveAhlquist