How do Catholics love Obama? Shall we count the ways?

By Deal Hudson & Deacon Keith Fournier

How do Catholics love Obama? Shall we count the ways?

They love Obama, they say, because he is ‘pro-life,‘ when such a claim even emits chuckles from the reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today.

They love Obama, they say, because Obamacare has reached the goal of “universal health care,” in spite of the fact that it came at the cost of federal funding for abortion, no conscience protection for health care workers, and an HHS mandate coercing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients.

They love Obama, they say, because he cares about the poor, in spite of the fact that his economic and social policies will create larger numbers of “the poor” in need of a safety net. As Obama continues to subvert genuine job creation and tax revenues shrink, our nation will be forced to cut social programs to keep the deficit from rising even higher.

They love Obama, they say, because he is “good” on so many policy issues, such as immigration, the environment, defense spending, “green” energy, poverty assistance — and since all issues are of equal importance, it doesn’t matter where he really stands on abortion, marriage, and religious liberty. They ignore the fundamental difference between settled and prudential issues.

They love Obama, they say, because Republicans don’t care about the poor and vulnerable and are determined to take away the government’s safety net. In fact, Republicans are so heartless they constitute a different species of human being, one less rational than Democrats. (This is similar to the way women were viewed in Greek, Roman, and Medieval times.)

They love Obama, they say, because he is against “criminalizing” abortion, and it’s obvious to anyone with a genuine moral sensibility that it would be ridiculous to bring charges against doctors who kill unborn children or unwanted children who are born despite the attempt to kill them in the womb. Obama, when he was a state senator in Illinois, was clear about his support of infanticide and his opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

They love Obama, they say, because he “understands” why same-sex marriage should be made legal in all fifty states.  They are so pleased that as President, Obama has ordered his Department of Justice to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a famous poem that began with a similar line, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

All kidding aside, Miss Browning actually describes the situation of these Catholic Obama supporters at the end of her short poem:

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints….

[Thanks to Deal Hudson for permission to run this piece, which first appeared in Catholic Online.]