Alan, Tom Wood sums up my stumble-bum explanation of the church-state issue (the only thing more embarrassing than hearing your voice recorded is reading your words in a quote). If the bishop wants to endorse a particular candidate or party – and that’s exactly what he did here – then let him pay taxes like any other political hack. The same goes for the protestant pastors in the midwest (Indiana, I think) who are facing off against the IRS.

And thanks to all for the nice comments.

Religion is the opium of the masses.

The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion…(first in political thought, then in private).

But I don’t understand how is it a threat to the separation of church and state for a religious organization to take a stand on an issue important to it. The NRA, ACLU, Unions of all kinds, environmentalists – they all get to advocate their positions to their followers. Telling a religion that they can’t participate in the political system because of the type of organization they are sounds a lot like discrimination.

Churches are tax exempt. That means that churches, in effect, get a subsidy from the government. That subsidy is granted under the express agreement that the churches will not interfere with government. It’s a devil’s bargain that comes directly from our European history where the intertwining of church and government lead to constant murder and mayhem.

If you really want to see how it would work to have government subsidized churches AND let them have an influence on government, visit the Middle East.

I’m not a Catholic anymore, so I don’t have any axe to grind either way. I saw protests on TV and I read about protests. You say it didn’t happen, I say it did.

We’ll agree to disagree on this, I guess.

I agree that most Catholics didn’t stand idly by, quite the contrary. They took the side of the priests and cardinals bishops and Pope when the victims made the abuse public. Victims and their families were ostracized by their fellow parishioners time and time again. All the while the pederast priests were being sheltered and shuffled off to prey on other innocents. The Church fought tooth and nail against every accuser and had to create an enormous slush fund to buy their victims silence. The Church Hierarchy knew full well for decades what was going on and did nothing to stop it.

I guess I can’t look at it that way Alan. This isn’t my union boss or my PTA president. Those people are heads of special interest groups. A minister’s job is to interperet scripture and lead a person to their own understanding of salvation and the good of mankind. Telling me how to vote puts it all in a much more “corporate” vein. I understand your distinction between a recommendation and an edict (withholding of sacraments etc.) but many people are easily pressured by those in authority and may have trouble distinguishing between the two.