How Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s VP, Defies the Religious Stereotype

Look closer at Clinton’s VP pick and you’ll find a figure who belies conventional assumptions about religion and politics.

JAY MICHAELSON
07.22.16
8:17 PM ET

According to conventional wisdom, Hillary Clinton’s VP pick, Senator Tim Kaine, is the boring, safe choice: uninspiring to progressives, a white dude, but a competent centrist from a swing state. Kaine said so himself on Meet the Press: “It’s true. I am boring.”

In a text message to her supporters just after 8 p.m. on Friday evening, Clinton wrote: “I’m thrilled to tell you this first: I’ve chosen Sen. Tim Kaine as my running mate. Welcome him to our team.”

Not quite. In fact, Kaine’s old-school, social-justice, Jesuit-trained Catholicism is a refreshing break from the usual association of religiosity with conservatism. As such, especially if Kaine does attract moderate Republicans disenchanted with the extremism of Donald Trump, he has the potential to be a transformative figure.

Like his potential predecessor, Joe Biden, Kaine reflects both the past and the future of the Catholic Church—but not the recent past. For a long time, mainstream Catholics emphasized the church’s social gospel: caring for the poor, opposing war and the death penalty, and so on. And with the series of reforms known as “Vatican II,” it seemed as though the church would keep pace with the times and moderate its doctrines on sexuality, gender, and birth control, while maintaining its basically liberal social justice outlook.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/22/how-tim-kaine-hillary-clinton-s-vp-defies-the-religious-stereotype.html