Democratic Catholic Lawmakers Warn Bishops
From The Washington Post: Forty-eight lawmakers, including several who are anti-abortion, warned the bishops not to harm the church by denying Communion based on partisan political biases.
[The lawmakers] questioned how the bishops could limit the denial of Communion to abortion, noting that Pope John Paul II and many U.S. bishops have condemned the death penalty and the war in Iraq. “All of us firmly believe that we can be good Congresspersons and Catholics and we respectfully submit that, while sometimes difficult, each of us has the responsibility and the right to balance public morality with private morality without pressure from certain bishops,” the letter said.One of the signers with a solidly antiabortion voting record, Rep. Bart Stupak (Mich.), said in an interview that bishops “are making these statements thinking they’re undermining the candidacy of John Kerry, when what they’re really undermining is the Catholic church.”
Stupak added that he has been surprised by the partisanship of some bishops.
“I’ve had some threaten not to give Communion to me, even though they don’t know my position, just because I’m a Democrat,” he said. “I’ve had cardinals refuse to shake my hand because I’m a Democrat, and then somebody whispers to them that, ‘No, no, he’s a good guy.’ ”
Baptists Compare Mass. Gay Marriage to 9/11
From Baptist Press via AmericaBlog
Focus/Family Compares Gay Newlyweds to Bestiality
From CNS News via AmericaBlog
Texas Cheats Unitarians Out of Tax Exemption
From The Village Gate and Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Courts have ruled against Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn (Google search), who is denying tax-exempt status to a Unitarian Universalist congregation because Unitarians do not mandate a belief in a supreme being. But Strayhorn is determined to appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, costing the Unitarians a fortune in legal fees. Strayhorn enjoys close ties to President Bush.
Tom Burka, my favorite satirist, projects a potential UU response to the state of Texas:
Unitarian Church Adopts Doctrine That Texans Are Idiots
Subtitle: New Belief System Entitles Them To Tax-Exempt Status
Those RCC bishops might consider their position. Some of us are old enough to remember the 1960 election. I was 10 years old in 1960, but I remember full well the minister of my church expressed a more than intemperate dislike for Kennedy. And he was a minister in the northern (“American”) Baptist Convention. The RCC bishops might want to consider the fact that more than a few protestants still do not want to be ruled by the Harlot Vatican–the Whore of Babylon.
The bishops are holding the Host hostage until we pay the ransom of voting for a war criminal and a terrorist.
The R.C. bishops should threaten to excommunicate any politician who supports the Iraqi war since the Pope has declared it to be an unjust war.
I find it disgusting that the very same hieirchy that passed KNOWN pedophiles from parish to parish thinks it has the moral flooring to deny the host to anyone. Moreover, they shouldn’t be receiving it themselves!
The Texas comptroller’s office reversed its decision against the Unitarian Universalist congregation yesterday (May 24).