Daily Kos’ founder Markos Moulitsas, known as Kos to his liberal votaries, published a discursive editorial in The Hill on Pope Francis and his purportedly “existential threat to the religious right.” Provocatively titled “The GOP is Losing Religion,” Moulitsas devolves into a litany of logical fallacies, as strawman arguments and kettle logic eviscerate any hope for coherence, let alone consistency.
Premised on a false dichotomy of “true” religion vs. “false” religion, Moulitsas’ argument proceeds to narrate a tale of two cities, bifurcating Catholic parishioners into desirables and undesirables. In plain words, Moulitsas shamelessly suggests that “conservatives” have “co-opted” religion, “making a mockery of central Christian tenets like the Golden Rule and rejection of greed.” Aside from the fact that Moulitsas’ patronizing argument essentializes an entire segment of the population, it also suffers from the No True Scotsman fallacy, a rudimentary flaw in logic that occurs when an argument redefines an entire group to exclude what it perceives to be “undesirable” elements in order to circumvent the use of precise language.
With an entire editorial punctuated by logical flaws, Moulitsas’ contention collapses under the weight of its own absurdity. The editorial crescendos to its apex: “Now, with a pope laser-focused on issues like poverty, immigration, global climate change and peace, conservatives are suddenly on the defensive.” Appropriating the language of a utopian-promising demagogue, Moulitsas monopolizes universally-recognized, morally righteous buzzwords like “poverty” and “peace,” as if parishioners who happen to vote on the right of the aisle personify greed and war; and form this mythical monolith of Pharisaic vultures who feast on the woes of humankind.
Moulitsas tersely concludes that the “right no longer ‘owns’ religion,” as if Christianity, Catholicism, or for that matter, any religion, is some homogenous and objectively identifiable entity. While Pope Francis has imperiously endorsed political policies that conservatives disagree with, relegating the vicar of the Catholic Church to a patchwork of seemingly progressive-oriented causes is an exercise in wishful thinking. During the Pope’s visit to the United States, he met privately with Kim Davis, the polarizing Kentucky County clerk that refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. He reportedly urged Davis to “stay strong” and praised her “courage.”
The fact is Pope Francis is neither liberal nor conservative, at least when it comes to the American political spectrum.
Despite the Pope’s unequivocal support of “traditional values” and nuclear family structures, liberal contrarians dismiss these gestures, arguably in line with many elements of Catholic doctrine and scripture, as anomalies, flukes of a Pope that values “conscientious objection.” The fact is Pope Francis is neither liberal nor conservative, at least when it comes to the American political spectrum. The Church, both historically and doctrinally, falls somewhat outside of a strict political paradigm, as its values are founded on a strict faith-based, moral blueprint rather than a social contract or constitution between a people and their government. That’s not to say, however, that it’s possible to fully divorce politics and morality, or even religion, but it’s important to note that the Catholic Church is first and foremost devoted to its flock and the prospect of ethereal, divine salvation, goals that are achieved through a complex web of liturgical practice, scriptural deference, and material aspiration.
This multi-variable approach to religious redemption serves as a vehicle for a myriad of interpretations, practices, and philosophies informed by a wide-spectrum of Catholic authorities including St. Thomas Aquinas and Saint Francis of Assisi. The elastic nature of religious interpretation and biblical commentary, in this case Catholicism, allows political pundits from both sides of the aisle to manipulate, over-emphasize, and cherry-pick certain verses and precepts to strategically advance political causes. Moulitsas’ vitriol against conservative members of the Catholic flock is nothing more than a recycled vestige of liberation theology, a doctrine popularized in the 1950s that reframes the “message of the gospels” as a principally proto-Marxist philosophy, hyperbolizing references to the “poor” as a militant call for material redistribution.
The liberal fervor surrounding Pope Francis, deemed the Progressive Pope, is all too familiar and echoes the messianic zealotry of the 2008 election, in which Obama sycophants yearned for some paradigm-shifting ‘Change’ under the auspices of faith-based devotion. In this case, however, the Bishop of Rome, will never be an unadulterated saint of Leftist lore. Pope Francis has yet to alter a single major aspect of traditional Church doctrine. The Pope’s tonal shift is palpable, his procedural shift is not. This Progressive Pope is still opposed to abortion, female members of clergy and gay marriage. He’s a Catholic priest.