Should John Kerry, a Catholic, be refused Easter communion ?

[Cleita]

It seems the Catholic Church has decided that to be a Democrat and be pro-choice is to be in the state of sin. Since many of the threads lately have been about religion vs. atheism and the separation of Church and State in the Constitution, it reminded me of something Bob Novak said on Crossfire this week.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0404/05/cf.00.html

<snip>
NOVAK: “John Kerry is the first Roman Catholic on a major party ticket in 44 years. But he may not be able to take communion back home in Boston on Easter Sunday.”

“The archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley, been saying that pro- abortion Catholic politicians are in a state of grave sin and, therefore, should be refused communion. That includes Senator Kerry, who violates the church's teaching on abortion and stem cell research. Most recently, he voted against a bill making it criminal to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. However, the candidate may be working out a solution. Instead of going to Catholic mass the last two Sundays, he politicked in black churches. “

BEGALA:” I hate to see religion be made into a football like this, particularly as a Catholic, as you are. We're brother Catholics. This is as bad as when George Bush began his campaign in South Carolina by going to Bob Jones University, the hotbed of anti- Catholic bigotry.” <snip>

I remember a similar comparison that was made by the Republican opposition about John F. Kennedy. During the Presidential campaign, they accused him of possibly bringing the Catholic ban of divorce into secular law and you know how those other Christians like getting divorced and remarried, so they were at that time in favor of separation of Church and State.

So, we all know that Novak has been using his asshole for his mouth now for so many years that he believes all the excrement of words he spews to be full of wisdom and virtue. The real danger unfortunately is that this view is held by many Christians as well as Catholics and essentially makes it a sin to be pro-choice and therefore by default a sin to be a Democrat. No wonder the Republican neo-cons are trotting our their God for all to worship every chance they get.

This is the problem when the division between Church and State starts to become blurred. By denying a woman reproductive choices because of religion, Christians are forcing half the population of the world to unwillingly obey the precepts of a religion that may not be the religion one wants to follow.