MORE DIRTY TRICKS FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

Another insightful post from our friends at Coalition for a Democratic America~Dusty
By PraetorOne and Biblebelted

Do you remember how outraged you were during the 2004 Election Cycle when a group of conservative Catholic Bishops threatened to with hold communion from Democratic Presidential candidate, John Kerry? Well, if you thought the Bishops were through you have another thing coming. This year the two leading candidates, Obama and Clinton, are not Roman Catholics, so the Bishops have devised an more Draconian measure. Instead of threatening the candidates they are now threatening Catholic, American voters who would vote for either Clinton or Obama in the general election. That’s right, friends and neighbors. The bloviating Bishops have actually decided that they have the right to interfere in the electoral process of a primarily non-Catholic nation. Not that we should be surprised. This after all is the same church who has selected two recent Popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, both of whom trace(d) their loyalties back to Hitler’s Pope, Pope Pius XII, and perhaps more chillingly the war against modernism–a war which included efforts to combat labor unions, democracy, and the separation of church.

It seems to me that the Catholic Church has obsessed over the idea of abortion: so much so that it can’t see the forest for the trees. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they are so obsessed with only one tree in the entire forest; refusing not only to admit that there is a forest, but failing to realize that there are other trees. In other words, it is just plain moronic to concentrate so intensely on a single issue while either ignoring or paying irrelevant lip service to others. For example. John Paul II routinely condemned the excesses capitalism. But in retrospect one has to wonder how serious he and his obsequious Bishops really were. One way to combat abortion is to improve the economy. When people, women in partilar, feel confident in the economic future of the country they are less likely to seek an abortion than they would be during hard economic times. But have the Bishops even bothered to condemn the pirate capitalism of the Bush regime? Of course not. Instead of threatening Republican voters for their support of pirate capitalism, the Bishops have opted to resume the war on modernism, which in addition to democracy, labor unions, and church/state separation, includes a war on birth control and women’s rights in general. The Bishops have obsessed over abortion, that much is for certain, but they also understand that the quickest way to gain control over women and even families in general is by asserting a direct control over what men and to an even greater degree, women, can do with their own bodies. The strategy could not be obvious. Control a person’s sexual activities and you can control any and every aspect of that person’s existence. And that’s the main objective–not the salvation of souls, but the undying obedience to the church hierarchy.

But we seem to have digressed. There is a plethora of transgressions for which the Catholic Church could threaten Republican leaders and voters, but for reasons which defy logic, the conservative Bishops have opted to remain silent on those issues. War is a barbaric act which takes the lives of both, the innocent and the guilty, soldier and civilian, but the Bishops act as if they have mistaken their toothpaste for crazy glue when it comes to speaking out against war. Their silence has been deafening. They are perfectly willing to speak out against abortion, but not war, proving once again that the “unborn” are sacred while the “post born” are disposable. The last we knew, George W. Bush has started a war in which we will be involved for at least ten to twenty years. Despite claims that the surge is working, we still see a situation in which suicide bombers can do a lot of damage if they are determined to do so; and when we consider the damage which has already been done, any sane person has to wonder why the Bishops opted to remain silent on this particular issue at this particular time. Why, if you didn’t know better you’d think that the Bishops are combining politics and religion, using the American political system to promote their very archaic agenda, that they view George W. Bush and the Protestant Fundamentalist Right as their allies in a resumption of the Catholic War on modernism. And if that means condoning a very racist war, the ultrafundametalist crusade against non-Christians, then the Bishops will undoubtedly continue their holy war against abortion, death and destruction not withstanding. And when you consider some of the comments that Benedict XVI has made about Muslims in the past, one has to wonder if both he and his cadre of conservative crackpots haven’t adopted the position that the Bush Wars may be hell, but at least they’re killing the right kinds of people. Read heathens with brown skin.

Which brings us to another point. Supposedly the Bishops have also condemned racism. On the surface that appears to be good thing; it sounds very decent and very humane, but let’s get real, shall we? Neither Obama nor Clinton are running on explicitly racist platforms. Indeed, I would submit than an overt racist wouldn’t stand a chance in hell these days. I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist. Clearly there are people with racist tendencies in our society today, but right wing political correctness as made it a tad harder to detect and combat. That said, I would strongly suggest that there is a lot less racism on the left than there is on the right. Pat Buchanan, after all, is a creature of the far right. He frequently includes Mexican immigration as a factor in his inerpretation of the cultural wars, as if Mexican immigrants were invading Barbarians and America were the Roman Empire of old. He talks about the browning of America and routinely crowds all Muslims under the same, Islamo-fascist tent, refusing to admit that there are moderate and even liberal Muslims who find violence, theocracy, and repression repugnant. In a similar vein many Republicans agree with Mister Buchanan’s overtly racist views and who openly support a fence (Berlin Wall?) between Mexico and the United States. And yet, the Bishops claim to condemn racism while they do or say virtually nothing to condemn and/or black mail Republican leaders and voters as they have Democratic voters.

Additionally, many American corporations–Wal Mart comes to mind–have employment practices which clearly place Blacks, Hispanics, and women at a disadvantage. Wal-Mart typically supports Republican candidates, but did the Bishops blackmail Republican leaders for crawling into bed with Wal-Mart? No. Did they condemn Wal-Mart for it’s racist employment practices? No. That says a lot about the Bishops’ sincerity in this matter–doesn’t it?

For all intents and purposes this is not a religious issue. This is a clear cut example of the Catholic Church interfering in the politics of a primarily non-Catholic nation. Well, I have news for the Catholic Church. If it wants to involve itself in our political system it can do us a huge favor and give up its tax free status. If they’re going to use the pulpit for purposes other than religious purposes I see no reason why we should support a democracy-hating church which is using that tax free status to both, influence our elections and to undermine opposing political and religious organization.

And that’s the part that causes the most outrage. Why should the American people pony up to support a foreign-based organization which is essentially anti-small d democratic?

Don’t answer that.

It was a rhetorical question.


–
Let Freedom Ring,

The Coalition for a Democratic America

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