Yesterday on "Meet the Press," Joe Biden said that he thinks life begins at conception as a matter of faith, but wouldn't impose his faith on others if he gains higher office. This is the line that Mario Cuomo established at Notre Dame 24 years ago— I think it's murder but many other people disagree, so I'll put that aside. Myself I've always wondered about the dodge, but I'm voting for Biden and so I approve the moral cutout. I mean, I don't think these people really think it's murder; they're modern; so why don't they take on their church?
But for more than a quarter century, Catholic teaching on abortion has been problematic politically in the U.S. Why isn't Jewish teaching re Jerusalem and the Land of Israel problematized? Why isn't it openly scrutinized, and discussed, and Jewish public figures compelled to distinguish their points of view: My rabbi tells me we have a biblical deed to all of Jerusalem, but I understand that Muslims see this differently, so I will put my teaching aside. Jeffrey Goldberg struck a blow on all this when he called out the Sheldon Adelsons of the world in the NY Times last spring. Finally, some controversy. Connie Bruck promptly followed suit in the New Yorker.
Most of these religious teachings are nonsense. They are goobledygook or doctrine. Maybe life begins at conception, but what kind of life at conception? How many of us who quail at the idea of even second-term abortion care about the morning-after pill? Jerusalem is similar stuff. Jewish religious/political beliefs are helping to burn down the Middle East. I look forward to a time when American Jewish political figures show the responsibility of Catholic ones.
P.S. One other religious point. My friend Mark passed on this WSJ article saying that Sarah Palin was born Catholic but went in for Aseembly of God then another non-demoninational evangelical church in adult life. Catholicism seems to be delaminating some. Earlier this year I noted that Episcopal churches are losing numbers rapidly. This is evidence of the secularization of the elites. Joe Biden, Catholic, and my wife, Protestant, and I, Jew, probably agree on a number of critical social norms that violate our natal doctrines–from abortion to the historical Jesus to the right to intermarry. But our groups have merged, and necessarily, because we are part of the privileged consort that is now running the U.S. and those norms don't comply with leadership of multicultural information-age America. Except for the Land of Israel beliefs. Which are almost never called out.
