Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Joe Biden’s outreach to religious leaders:
It is being reported that the Biden campaign is bragging about the support the Democratic presidential candidate is getting from 1,600 faith leaders. They shouldn’t. Vote Common Good is a motley crew of left-wing activists who are more a liability than an asset to the Biden campaign.
For example, there is an embarrassing letter to pastors, clergy and faith leaders featured on the website of Vote Common Good that is anything but the kind of statement we would expect from religious leaders. It is a vicious ad hominem attack on the president.
Instead of praising Biden or criticizing President Trump’s policies, the letter speaks with derision about Trump’s supporters and descends into an assault on his alleged “amorality.” It also encourages religious leaders to play the race card by using the pulpit to hammer the “white Christians” who voted for Trump in 2016.
The executive director of Vote Common Good is Doug Pagitt, a left-wing Christian who has worked closely with Jim Wallis, the former Marxist who founded Sojourners. In August, this mainline Protestant publication was forced to pull an article effectively calling U.S. bishops racists.
Under Pagitt, his organization has given much profile to the subject of race. It claims to be anti-racist and even sponsors something called the “Racism Allyship Certification Program.” But no one takes them seriously, not when they learn that its members rallied outside the White House at Black Lives Matter Plaza (named after the racist group) before joining with Al Sharpton. Sharpton is one of the most polarizing race-baiting preachers in the nation.
Vote Common Good has won the support of two Catholic notables. Sister Simone Campbell of “Nuns on the Bus” fame and Patrick Carolan, another Catholic dissident. Both of them vigorously disagree with the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion. They implore us to keep it legal.
If this isn’t enough to discredit Vote Common Good, learning who funds it finishes the job. Yup, they get their underwriting from George Soros, the self-hating Jewish billionaire who funds anti-Catholic organizations. And yes, Soros also greases Sojourners.
Biden is in deep trouble with the faithful and this gambit doesn’t help. He would have been better advised not to seek the endorsement of any religious leaders if this is the best he could do. Meanwhile, most people of faith voted for Trump last time, and they are likely to do so again. Joe will have to depend on mobilizing the atheists.
Contact Doug Pagitt: doug@dougpagitt.com
