Bashing faith
While the nation was riveted by hurricane coverage on television last week and seeing which network news anchor wore the tightest black t- shirt displaying their dedication to the gym superseded their diligence toward journalism, something remarkable happened that almost every single news outlet chose to ignore.
A sitting U. S. Senator made it clear, under oath, that if you are a person of faith you are disqualified from sitting on the federal bench as a judge. That’s not an exaggeration, that’s exactly what happened. And here you thought we put this behind us when we elected that Irish Catholic from Hyannis to the White House in 1960. I think his name was Jack something. Anyway.
Amy Coney Barrett is one of President Trump’s nominees for the federal bench and she was subjected to a very unfair, what somemight call bigoted, line of questioning from several senators. Most notable was the testimony from California Senator Diane Feinstein. After Barrett was asked “what kind of Catholic” she was by Senators Al Franken and Dick Durbin, Feinstein came right out and said what everyone in the room suspected she was thinking but wouldn’t say. She told Barrett it was clear fromher previous writings on her religion that the “dogma lives loudly in you” and that would have to disqualify her from wearing a judge’s robes. By “dogma” Feinstein was talking about Barrett’s faith. I don’t know how much time Feinstein has spent in church but the prayers people say and the sacraments they celebrate and the rituals they practice are articles of their faith not dogma. “Love your enemy” is not a talking point invented by a Madison Avenue public relations firm that was printed up at Kinkos and distributed to the congregation. It is the core of what the Christian faith is based on.
A couple of years ago I had a chance to interview the well respected Father Robert Barron, now Bishop Barron, and we talked about what he called “the last acceptable prejudice.” By that hemeant if youmake fun of a person’s skin color, waist size or sexual orientation the masses will come down on your head with the wrath of Kahn; as they should because it is mean, prejudice and wrong. But if you want to make fun of someone’s faith, have at it. The Bill Mahers’ of the world are no longer hiding in the shadows and pulling their punches, they will tell you right to your face that taking a child to church is tantamount to child abuse and you deserve to be mocked for believing in the invisible man in the sky.
Beingmade fun of is one thing ( and frankly nothing new to people of faith) but being barred from holding a job because you take communion is quite another. Amy Coney Barrett is a law professor at Notre Dame and when Feinstein dropped her little “dogma” comment like a jagged rock on her head the university president was watching and none too pleased. Notre Dame President John Jenkins wrote in a public letter, “It is chilling to hear from a United States Senator that this might now disqualify someone from service as a federal judge. I ask you and your colleagues to respect those in whom dogma lives loudly- which is a condition we call faith.”
I have always viewed my faith as an intensely personal thing. I’d like to think the things I was taught by the priests and nuns of St. Joseph’s in South Troy and the Christian Brothers of LaSalle have helped shape how I treat people and the reason there is love in my heart for all. I’ve never worried what people thought of my faith nor did I worry if theywere atheist. As long as people treat each other with fairness and respect they were OK in my book. Yet something has changed in society.
People used to be proud to go to church or say “God bless you” to a stranger. These days too many Christians put their faith under a basket for fear someone, with the mob’s blessing, will openly mock them. Recently I was interviewed for a newspaper article and I said I was a big fan of Jesus. Someone who knows me said, “I can’t believe you put that out there.” I could only laugh and ask them why I would be ashamed of such a thing? Even those who don’t believe in God would concede Jesus was a pretty cool guy with a message of love.
I know we are becoming amore secular society and I don’t expect anyone to conform to what others do or don’t believe. What I do expect from our elected officials is obedience to the constitution which says we do have freedom of religion and if someone wants to kneel on Sundaymorning and bless themselves with water from the well it should not be held against them on a job application. If Senator Feinstein was reading this I’d tell her this is the part where we people who are full of dogma say “amen.”
John Gray is a news anchor on WXXA- Fox TV 23 and ABC’S WTEN News Channel 10. His column is published every Wednesday. Email him at johngray@fox23news.com.