U.S. Bishops Back the Forces of Reaction

As if this was a surprise. It seems a group of the Pedophile Protecting Prelates of America (otherwise known as Catholic Bishops) have decided take up the cause with the fundamentalist protestant wingnuts in their effort to have George II installed again in the White House.

The august vicars of Rome have joined forces with the U.S. Christian Coalition, (or as I like to refer to them, “The Cousin-lovin’ Crackers for Christ”) in a mean-spirited ecumenicist fervor and have decided to use the old eternal damnation tactic on U.S. Catholics who vote for the rational and secular leaning John Kerry. What upsets their Excellencies so? Kerry, a Catholic, has had the temerity to suggest that since not all of his countrymen share his religious viewpoint, they should be allowed to have the freedom to choose in the matter of abortions.

Kerry also openly admits to preferring science and inquiry over superstitious mumbo-jumbo by supporting stem cell research. While Kerry opposes gay marriage, he does support the idea of “civil unions” which would allow those who subscribe to a same-sex preference to enjoy many of the benefits we “normal” folks do.

It is these three issues the good bishops want to make the focus of the upcoming election. For Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in Colorado, there is only one way for a faithful Catholic to vote in this presidential election, for President Bush and against Senator John Kerry. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis also issued just such a statement. Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark have both recently declared that the obligation to oppose abortion outweighs any other issue.

The implication is simple: vote for Kerry and you commit a sin.

While most people associate this sort of political meddling with crackpots like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, Catholic bishops have had a long history of supporting despicable reactionary regimes in the past. Look at Franco’s Spain.

Our founding fathers desperately wanted to keep religion out of our political system and for good reason – religion, of any kind, is a corrupting influence.