Earlier today, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged its priests around the nation to speak out against health care legislation.
Why? Because the Democratic bills are, “seriously deficient on the issues of abortion and conscience.”
To me, this perfectly—absolutely perfectly—illustrated the glaring shortcoming of the Catholic Church in 2009: A narrow-minded focus that makes, morally, no sense.
Yes, the Church is right—the Democratic proposals do nothing to deter abortion (Of course, maybe that’s because abortion is, ahem, legal). But what’s mind numbing here is that the idea of universal, affordable health care is, at its core, an issue of morality. It’s about assuring that all people can receive the medical care they require, wealth/status be damned. Is there any way in hell that Jesus Christ—were he kickin’ it with me in Cosi—would oppose health care reform? Answer: No way.
But that’s the Catholic Church. When it comes to gay rights, it record is unapologetically pathetic. They utter “love the sinner, hate the sin” with a straight face, yet offer no protections or rights to the sinners. When it comes to women, well, what do I even need to say? When it comes to global warming—God’s planet!—the Church has no opinion. None. Nada. Zip.
I feel bad for the mindless followers; those who take every word as doctrine and confuse men for Gods. Because this is immoral—unambiguously so.
