Church and State?

[catscradle]

So over the weekend I'm watching CNN and Bush is on trying to get the Pope to work with him on the pesky issue of abortion and gay marriage. Yeah, Bush wants the Pope to put more pressure on Catholics to be pro-lifers and anti-gay. Because, you know, the Popes just been too silent on those issues. He's really gotta start taking a stand against all this immorality!

Forgiving the fact that Bush is living with his head up his ass - um - all that worrying that people had about Kennedy following the rule of "The Roman Dictator"? I mean, lets just examine this, shall we?

Catholics have had a hard time getting into high profile offices basically because people worry that a Catholic is going to be aligned with the the Pope more than the will of the people. Kennedy pretty much shattered that thought al la Marilyn Monroe and the whole sanctity of marriage and, you know, human life thing. Catholics can rise above their religion with the best of them.

Kerry is a Catholic. Also a pro-choicer. Like to call him a liberal, but I know better. Point - he's not caving to the religion.

Bush is not a Catholic. Bush is a born-again christian. Bush is going to the Pope and telling him to get his flock in line with good ole Catholic values.

Is that an interesting little twist? I mean, you can't say that Bush is following the Pope. No, he's doing one better. He's telling the Pope what to do! Ha ha! He needs to ask the Pope to help him!

How fucking clueless can you be?

Comments

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

When I first saw that the Bush was meeting with the Pope, I thought to myself, "Man, I hope John Paul told him off!" Then I actually read that he in fact DID tell him off, to some extent, criticizing foreign policy, such as the prisoner abuse. But then a few days later news surfaced on this whole giving-the-Pope advice thing. I'm with you: WTF?!

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, it seems like Kerry managed to respond somewhat intelligently to this.

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! Glad to see Kerry jump on this. Very nice response. And I applaud the bishops who noted that getting in bed with politics could have some nasty effects for the church as well. Good to see that some people are thinking.