‘Churches Burning’: Ad blasts Biden for ‘silence’ on church attacks
The conservative advocacy group CatholicVote has launched a digital and TV ad campaign criticizing President Joe Biden for being “silent” on an ongoing spate of attacks on churches by pro-choice groups in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade.
An ad called “Churches Burning,” part of the $1 million ad campaign which will air online and on television in Wisconsin, Arizona and across the country, including Washington, D.C., compares Biden, “our second Catholic president,” with President John F. Kennedy who condemned arson attacks on black churches in the 1960s.
Nearly 70 Catholic churches have been attacked since early May when “radical abortion groups first threatened a ‘summer of rage’ in response to reports that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court — including a number of Catholic justices — planned to rule Roe v. Wade unconstitutional,” the group says.
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The ad shows a clip showing Biden responding to pro-choice groups’ attacks against Catholics by saying, “Keep protesting, because keep making your point.”
Besides churches, pro-choice groups have attacked at least 64 pregnancy centers, CatholicVote adds.
Catholic News Agency said it has confirmed at least 93 acts of violence and vandalism, including the firebombing of pregnancy centers and the burning of churches since the decision was leaked on May 2.
“The American people are disgusted by the inaction of our Justice Department,” CatholicVote Communications Director Joshua Mercer said while releasing the ad this week. “This ad sends an important message, calling on our lawmakers to demand action against this vicious campaign of targeted violence against Catholics.”
CatholicVote said its President Brian Burch “has also repeatedly appealed to the Biden Justice Department to enforce the law against the ongoing attacks.”
“Our ad campaign will begin airing in earnest over the weekend and will expand dramatically into next week,” CAN quoted Burch as saying. “Further, we have new ads in production, including ads targeting Latino voters that we will be adding to the campaign in the coming days.”
To draw a contrast between the two Catholic presidents, the ad says in its narration, “In the 1960s, when churches were burned, President Kennedy stepped up, condemned it,” and carries the voice of Kennedy, saying, “To burn churches I consider both cowardly as well as outrageous… As soon as we are able to find out who did it, we’ll arrest them.”
CatholicVote points out that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “has found itself in numerous confrontations with President Biden since he took office, many of them over the Catholic Church’s teaching on the sanctity of life, which the president rejects.”
In June, several groups, including CatholicVote, wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying: “We, the undersigned representing millions of Americans, are writing to voice our concerns over the increased attacks against churches, pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations in the aftermath of the leaked draft opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.”
The advocacy group adds that in December of last year, the Department of Justice was asked how it was investigating the repeated attacks on churches in the country. “The Attorney General was also asked to investigate those complaints and take appropriate action as is your duty. Since that request there has been public silence.”
