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Roman Catholics are reviving their grievances against Vice President Kamala Harris after Democrats endorsed her to replace Catholic President Joe Biden as their 2024 presidential candidate. “Kamala Harris hates what we believe,” Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said in a statement this week, recalling her attacks on a Catholic judge in 2018.
Harris at the time submitted several written questions to Brian Buescher, a nominee for judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, questioning his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a popular Catholic fraternal charity group with more than two million members. Harris referred to the Catholic group as “an all-male association composed primarily of Catholic men” and questioned its beliefs that oppose abortion and gay marriage.
Harris initially questioned whether his membership in the group would allow him to weigh in impartially on those issues in court. Buescher patiently responded that his membership in his parish group would have no bearing on his rulings. That was a step too far for most Catholics, who described Harris’s questions as an unconstitutional “religious test” for serving in the legislative branch of government.
At that point, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska responded sharply by introducing a Senate resolution specifically saying that disqualifying a nominee for the courts based on membership in the Knights of Columbus was a violation of the Constitution. The resolution passed unanimously. But Catholics did not forget.
The issue was raised during the 2020 campaign by former Vice President Mike Pence in his debate with Harris, when he accused her of attacking a judicial nominee because of his Catholic faith. Harris responded with incredulity, describing herself as a person of faith who found it “insulting” to suggest she would attack someone because of their faith.
Catholic activists are now claiming that Harris is unfit to be president, citing her efforts in the Senate. “This is not only a gross form of anti-religious bigotry, it is unconstitutional,” Burch said. Harris’ likely nomination as the next presidential candidate puts her faith in the spotlight.
While Joe Biden claims to be a practicing Catholic and attends Mass weekly, Harris does not regularly attend public church services. Harris describes herself as a Baptist, as she recalls growing up and attending the 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California with Regina Shelton, a family friend she describes as her “second mother,” with strong ties to the black South.
She spoke about her faith during a visit to the 2022 National Baptist Convention in Houston. “Faith teaches us that there is always a better future ahead of us and that we have to keep moving forward to make that future a reality,” she said. “And to move forward, I’ve also learned and we all know, faith requires action.” Harris’s Indian mother, Shymala Gopalan Harris, described Harris as someone who attended the Hindu temple in San Francisco.
“She does all the rituals and says all the prayers in the temple,” she proudly told an Indian news outlet in 2004. Today, Harris is a member of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish, and the couple celebrates Jewish holidays together in public. However, Harris still gives a nod to her Hindu heritage by celebrating the Indian holiday of Diwali at the White House.
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