On abortion, Amy Coney Barrett doesn't speak for American Christians (Opinion)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It wasn't a surprise that President Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to serve on the US Supreme Court Saturday. Barrett's conservative Catholic faith was a flashpoint during her confirmation hearings in 2017 to serve as a federal appeals court judge and is coming up again now.

Conservative Christians are thrilled about Barrett's nomination and the prospect it raises for them of overturning Roe v. Wade, but their views don't align with the reality of what many American Christians believe. Barrett has called abortion "always immoral" and voted against abortion rights as a federal appeals court judge. She has cast doubt on stare decisis -- the principle that justices should follow legal precedents set by previous decisions.

So far, the public debate about faith and Barrett's nomination has focused on her controversial 1998 law review paper about Catholic judges recusing themselves from cases where the law conflicts with the Catholic Church's teaching. While that's an important topic, the discussion has obscured a more important aspect of her nomination: how her extreme legal views are rejected by American Christians overall. Over the past few decades, the loudest voices on the Christian right have largely come to represent what it means to be a Christian in the United States, but they shouldn't be allowed to distort the actual views of people in the pews. Since the 2016 election, progressive Christians are increasingly stepping forward to insist on being heard in our national conversation.

-snip-

The reality about what the majority of American Christians believe about reproductive health care is far from how politicians and anti-abortion activists portray it. According to Pew Research Center, 59% of Christians do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade. Barrett's fellow Catholics are some of the most opposed to her conservative vision for the Supreme Court. They oppose overturning Roe v. Wade by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/on-abortion-amy-coney-barrett-doesn-t-speak-for-american-christians-opinion/ar-BB19vVh3?li=BBnbfcQ&ocid=hplocalnews

[BigmanPigman]

1. Catholics or Christians? Are they the same or different?

I think they are being used interchangeably here when I think some religious people see a difference.

***Religion needs to be out of politics. Period. I am sick of hearing GOD when I listen to anything to do with politics. This country is hypocritical enough without religion making it more so.

[Igel]

2. "Xian" is polyvalent.

Sometimes you can use it in contrast with Catholic, mostly you can't.

I've known people who used it to contrast themselves with Methodists and Presbyterians and Baptists.

Some distinguish between Western Xianity and Orthodoxy, or deny the Torah-observant Xians the name.

It's a game that's played with any group as people try to define themselves as central and those unlike them in some in-group important way.