Catholic Vote Calls for Trump to Step Down; “Disgusting and Indefensible” Comments on Women

By Elisa Meyer --
11 Oct 2016 --

Catholic organization calls for Trump to step aside after leaked recording of “locker room talk” comments about women.

CatholicVote.org, a Catholic political advocacy group has joined forces with other faith and non-faith groups in a joint effort to call for Donald Trump, republican U.S. presidential candidate to “step down.” This took place after the leak of an audio recording from 2005 when Trump made lewd, disrespectful comments about women.

CatholicVote Calls for Trump to Step Down; “Disgusting and Indefensible” Comments on Women.[/tweetthis]

In a written statement released by the CatholicVote organization on October 8, 2016, the group stated:

“Newly released comments by Donald Trump leaked from an audio recording in 2005 are disgusting and simply indefensible. In the recording, he brags about sexually assaulting women. Christians should not waste their breath defending them. The mere fact that this conversation is occurring in the context of a presidential campaign impoverishes us all.
“While CatholicVote.org has not endorsed Donald Trump, we have publicly defended his proposals on school choice and parental leave, his pledges on judicial nominations, and his recent commitment to defend and protect religious liberty. We have likewise called attention to the enormous threats posed by Hillary Clinton’s policies if she were to become president, while criticizing the cowardice and scandal of Tim Kaine’s exploitation of Catholicism. Our goal has been simple: secure as much good as possible from a terribly difficult presidential contest among two extraordinarily flawed candidates.
“Catholic voters rightly will be unnerved by these developments. In our opinion, the viability of Donald Trump’s candidacy is now in question. Furthermore, the good many hoped to achieve, in spite of Trump’s many well-known flaws, is also now in doubt. If Donald Trump is unwilling to step aside, the Republican National Committee must act soon out of basic decency and self-preservation.”

After the audio leak, many other leading republican Catholics also withdrew their endorsements. On Saturday, however, Donald Trump informed the Wall Street Journal, there’s “zero chance” he’ll quit, regardless of the call to step down.

Hillary Clinton, the democratic candidate publicly addressed her thoughts on Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women. During the debate on October 9, she declared the leaked audio “represents exactly who he is."

Wayne Grudem, an evangelical theologian, posted an online essay declaring:

"There is no morally good presidential candidate in this election. I previously called Donald Trump a 'good candidate with flaws' and a 'flawed candidate' but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character. I cannot commend Trump's moral character, and I strongly urge him to withdraw from the election."

Russell Moore, the president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention called continued evangelical support for Donald Trump “disgraceful and scandalous.”

What a disgrace. What a scandal to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the integrity of our witness.
https://t.co/nNkjlI3XYO
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) October 8, 2016

In the leaked video, Donald Trump can be heard bragging Billy Bush, formerly of Access Hollywood using graphic and offensive language about groping, kissing and attempting to seduce married women. Trump happily comments to Bush, “…when you’re a star, they let you do it.”

#Catholics call for #Trump to step down after lewd comments on #women | The CSF https://t.co/Im7WikKPIX
— davidslim53 (@davidslim53) October 11, 2016

CatholicVote calls the comments made by the Republican presidential candidate “indefensible.” Trump, however tries to downplay the seriousness of the lewd, disrespectful comments by referring to them as merely “locker room talk.”

CatholicVote stated:

“Christians should not waste their breath defending them. The mere fact that this conversation is occurring in the context of a presidential campaign impoverishes us all.”

Up until now, there have been mixed reactions from Catholics to the Republican presidential candidate. Advocates for pro-life have questioned his commitment to their pro-life cause, mainly due to the pro-choice statements made by Trump back in 1999 and in 2000.

While Trump says he opposes same-sex marriage, the GOP candidate has been criticized by defense-of-marriage groups who have noted that in the past, he has bragged about his illicit affairs with married women. Also, his casino in Atlantic City was the city’s first ever to have an in-house gentlemen’s club.