Democrats tiptoe around Biden’s comfort running on abortion in 2024
Democrats tiptoe around Biden’s comfort running on abortion in 2024
The president is "uncomfortable" running on one of Democrats' biggest issues, one governor said, while others said the party needs to empower other messengers on abortion.
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Abortion is a religiously mediated litmus test for politicians. As a Catholic, Biden's personal religious delusions conflict with truly supporting the pro-choice stance. This isn't something that will change soon. Voting Americans hate atheist/agnostic morality, and we are likely to get every single other denomination of president before we have an atheist one or even an agnostic one. (Wormald, 2014) The big issue is that abortion was not a political litmus test until subversive alt-right groups made it one after they failed to succeed with their segregationist ideologies. Just know that it all links back to creating a caste system where white, rich, and religious individuals are at the top. (Stewart, 2022)
Stewart, K. (2022). The power worshippers: Inside the dangerous rise of religious nationalism. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Wormald, B. (2014, July 16). How Americans feel about religious groups. Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2014/07/16/how-americans-feel-about-religious-groups/
If I’m remembering correctly, “unaffiliated” is either among the fastest or the fastest growing denomination. The phenomenon has been called things like “the rise of the nones.”
The strong politicalization of US Christianity is usually pointed to as one of the drivers. Since the 1970s, when the federal government wanted Christian universities to accept black students or risk losing their funding, American Christians have steadily increased both their political affiliation with the anti-integration Republican Party (Reagan played a big role there). Prior to that, even groups like the Southern Baptist Convention came out with a statement in support of Roe because it expanded women’s rights. The Catholics were always anti-abortion (but also more likely to be pro-social justice and immigrant friendly), but it was the pivot by the evangelical industry leaders who ran those universities that made it into what it is today.
Since the majority of Americans disagree with the radical right stance on social issues, there’s naturally going to be an exit as Christianity becomes more and more associated with far right politics. There’s also a positive feedback loop in which the far right politicians seek to curry favor with evangelicals (without whom they cannot win) by moving ever further to the right, and there’s a far right in the Catholic Church as well (although they were better aligned with JP2 and Ratzinger).
I view the near constant string of losses post-Roe that the gop has been dealing with as a positive development, and that goes along with things like falling church attendance. However, the moves to ignore or overthrow democracy because they can’t win the votes is what’s ultimately going to determine where we go as a country.
Abortion is a religiously mediated litmus test for politicians
Henry Cuellar.