I used to really enjoy her columns, Twitter, and podcast, and I liked that there was a visible democratic socialist in mainstream media who was also Catholic. I haven’t really followed her much lately as I’ve drifted further from being a practicing Catholic myself. I saw an article about her in another community criticizing her (it’s here: (https://judedoyle.medium.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-elizabeth-bruenig-ba5a477ef838)) and it made me think harder about her views and how her nuclear family wholesome image can be a bit sinister when combined with her pro-life politics. What do you guys think, in particular about her as a public Catholic who (at least self-identifies) as a leftist?
I’m against her bc she’s writes in possibly the most ghoulish publication in circulation
Tbh a better reason than most ppl have.
Imo it's worth keeping powder dry for bigger fish. In terms of quasi-left figures needing discipline I think someone like Glenn Greenwald is way more of a pied Piper.
Bruenig's absolute rejection of the death penalty is also a pretty decent moral stance that goes a long way towards making her better than the avg lib.
Her religious positions are pretty boring. The cottagecore/trad shit is honestly a bit weird too, but I think again, there's just so many more targets out there. Who are we to judge her passion for baking or whatever.
Ugh yeah, I think she’s not nearly as bad as Glen Greenwald. I’m also a big fan of her death penalty writing!
Someone can be interested in radical changes for one class and the continued repression of another. But for someone whose supposed practical work is tied up in their opinions, it's pretty damn bad to try to be a pro life leftist right now.
Cool! Yeah, thanks for sharing. When I was a fan ~4yrs ago I didn’t think much of her being pro-life because I didn’t think abortion was seriously under threat (naive, I know) but these days it’s pretty damn bad, like you said
I used to have the opinion of “safe, legal and rare”…like improve access to healthcare, protection from domestic violence, improved sex ed, would all reduce abortion rates - but as I’ve came to learn, you really gotta stake your ground on the most radical position because this country is garbage and there is no compromising with christo-fascists. Abortion on demand is ultimately a human right and a protection of pregnant people.
i still have no idea who tf liz bruenig is in spite of this site talking about her all the time and i don't care to find out
that hurt my feelings and also made me want to tell you about what organizing I do, but I think that’s silly. I thought it would be interesting to hear opinions from other people who are leftist and Christian about a public leftist Christian, abs so far it has been interesting.
She has been a controversial figure for quite a while because as a writer she has freelance for the American Catholic magazine and reviewed a book about Catholicism and homosexuality and yadayada her thoughts were..not good.
I too appreciated her at the time and she used to post in /r/cth actually lol, but she does a disservice for leftist causes when she ends up siding with reactionary politics for the sake of nuance. I think I finally lost it when she wrote an article about her uncle refusing to vaccinate against covid as some great moral dilemma when in reality it contradicted not just her so called pro-life beliefs and her professed love for her uncle by refusing to argue the point of vaccination any further.
I think there is a place for religion in the left. But it has to be a revolutionary religious manifestation, you can't wrap dogmatic and antiquated beliefs around red banners and call it revolutionary. That is, abolish homophobia, transphobia, patriarchy, gender norms, private property, etc from dogmatic prescriptions or interpretations of Bible and Canonical thought - explicitly apply a material analysis to the writings of theologians and try and bring universal principles, if they exist, into the modern times. Create and codify protections for religious minorities. And create truly democratic institutions that oversee church doctrine.
