14 November 2008

make up a sin...

any sin. Or so it seems.

A Roman Catholic Priest in South Carolina is urging parishioners: Priest advises penance for Obama vote - Parishioners shouldn't take Communion until they do because of president-elect's abortion view, he says
The priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Greenville has told parishioners that those who voted for Barack Obama placed themselves under divine judgment because of his stance on abortion and shouldn't receive Holy Communion until they've done penance....

In a letter posted on St. Mary's Web site, Newman wrote that "voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

This is one of the reasons that the Catholic church is loosing members. It has never gotten the idea that U.S. citizen's have a different outlook than other parts of the world. The idea of "free choice" is embedded in not just our rule of law but in our psyches.

Unlike the LDS that can put out an edict demanding that its members unquestioningly support specific causes with money or action [yes, i mean Prop 8] or face excommunication, most U.S. religions don't do fatwas. There has been a continuous battle between religion and law all over the world. The church has never recovered from its loss of power after the Middle Ages.

Makes you want to go back to times like, oh, say Henry II - Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

I'm not suggesting Henry II's solution. I just wish that they would get their noses out of politics and focus on the all important message they spout as the ultimate commandment - Love they neighbor as thyself.

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