EWTN's Warsaw: 2020 election about competing visions for America

CNA Staff, Oct 22, 2020 / 21:00 pm

The head of the EWTN media network said ahead of Election Day that the 2020 presidential election offers, beyond a choice between individuals, a philosophical choice between different views of American life.

"One campaign has built itself on the notion that America is a great country, with much to offer. It embraces a vision that sees religious practice and belief in God as central to the country's private and public life," EWTN board chairman and CEO Michael Warsaw wrote in an Oct. 17 publisher's note in the National Catholic Register.

Central to that campaign's vision, Warsaw said, is a perception that faith is a critical aspect of America's foundational principles.

"Under this view of America, Christians and other people of faith are seen as a large part of the solution to the challenges our country faces, just as they have been central to so many positive movements in American history - from the right-to-life movement of the past four decades to many of the great causes for justice and rights of the 19th, 20th and the 21st centuries," Warsaw added.

"This view does not hold that everything in America is perfect, or that every founder of our country or leader who espoused this view is a saint, but it believes in the greatness of the country and the idea that the tools exist within our Constitution and system of government to fix those problems that arise without having to completely change our system of laws and government. This is the classical view of America."

Warsaw's essay did not directly identify political candidates, but it did draw a sharp distinction between political outlooks.

The other philosophical choice open to voters, he wrote, is a "progressive view," which perceives that "America has much to atone for and little to be proud of." In such a vision, religion is perceived as discriminatory, abortion is recognized as a right while religious liberty and freedom of conscience are diminished, Warsaw said.

"The redefinition of sexual values and of the family itself are central to this worldview," he added, and while America is criticized as imperialist, "a blind eye is turned to the real imperialism of communist countries."

"Religion must submit to politics and the state in this view. Period."

With fewer than two weeks until Election Day, voters in many states have already begun early voting, and a record turnout of mail-in ballots is expected across the country this year, driven largely by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Both President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden have made a push for Catholic votes ahead of the election, with Trump championing his record on abortion and religious liberty, and Biden citing his own Catholic roots.

A recent EWTN News / Real Clear Polling survey found that Biden enjoys a lead among likely Catholics voters, although that lead narrows considerably in several swing states thought to be critical to the election.

U.S. Catholic bishops have largely emphasized the abortion in voting guidance ahead of the election, and have identified ending legal protection for abortion as the "preeminent priority" of Catholic political activity.

Warsaw's essay lamented that in a progressive political standpoint, "values - and vocabulary - from yesterday are constantly supplanted by new values and new language. Their goal is not static but evolving, yet undeniably in an anti-Christian direction. Politicians that supported the Defense of Marriage Act, or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or the Hyde Amendment a few decades ago now find these all to be repugnant. For advocates of this understanding of America, values are not unchanging, but utterly changeable depending on political expediency and cultural trends."

"This - more than the candidates themselves - is what is on the ballot. You are casting your vote this year for a long-term vision of America, not for a person. Keep that in mind: Pray, and vote - for the future of your country."

EWTN Global Catholic Network is the largest religious media network in the world. EWTN's 11 global TV channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 300 million television households in more than 145 countries and territories.

EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 500 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the largest Catholic websites in the U.S.; electronic and print news services, including Catholic News Agency, The National Catholic Register newspaper, and several global news wire services; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.