John Halpin responds to accusations of anti-Catholic bias
John Halpin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), has responded to accusations of his anti-Catholic bias in relation to the leaked emails that drew outrage from conservative Catholics and Evangelicals last week.
In the April 2011 exchange, Halpin pointed out that News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson were raising their children in the Catholic faith.
He went on to complain that many powerful members of the conservative movement are Catholics and described it as "an amazing bastardization of the faith."
The email was addressed to Jennifer Palmieri, who is currently the communications director for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
In a statement Halpin wrote for ThinkProgress, he said that he himself is a Catholic and he has relatives who are conservative Catholics. He confirmed that he is the author of the leaked emails but he clarified that the messages were not meant to insult Catholics.
"What I reacted to in my email, rightly or wrongly, was the grand public display of Catholicism from a right-wing billionaire who owns a media conglomerate, including Fox News, that routinely assaults the values of the poor, sows racial discord, and attacks immigrants," Halpin explained, referring to Murdoch.
"This seemed inconsistent with what I was taught about Catholic values, so I penned off an email to my other Catholic colleagues," he added.
Halpin also said that he was also concerned about the economic policies being forwarded by House Speaker Paul Ryan and other conservatives. He noted that policies such as tax reductions for the rich, privatization of Medicare, repeal of health care and cuts in social welfare spending were promoted by Thomson's newspaper at the time he wrote the email.
"So, I'm a progressive Catholic who was reacting in a private email to the arguments of leading conservatives who often misuse Catholicism to defend their agenda," he wrote.
He stated that the messages have been taken out of context and the other individuals involved are being unfairly slandered.
Catholic and Evangelical Christians have recently released a statement to demand an apology from the Clinton campaign.