Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg attracted attention recently with comments about the Bible and abortion. In a radio interview that touched on questions of faith, Buttigieg criticized the pro-life position, suggesting that it is based on a questionable interpretation of what the Bible says about when life begins. As he put it: “You know, there’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath, and so even that is something that we can interpret differently.”
Over the summer, during the weekday Masses, we have been reading from the Book of Exodus. Early on we hear of how a new Pharaoh, “Who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” He reduced the Hebrews to slaves building the store cities of Ramses and Pithom.