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The "Church" doesn't usually affect my emotions very much, since I am long past caring what "It" thinks about anything, and have not been a believer in Christianity in ages (I am a semi-Buddhist after living 14 years in Thailand) BUT...this struck me as infuriating! The separation of Church and State in the US is something that needs to be safe-guarded in these times when Christian fundamentalists would love to impose their rule on the rest of us. They SHOULD be taxed heavily from now on, if they persist in this nonsense.
Read on, and then my rant is ended for today lol...
Tue Jun 15, 8:25 PM ET
Tom Musbach, PlanetOut Network
The Catholic Church in Massachusetts has sent letters to all parishes in the state urging churchgoers to express "profound disappointment" with legislators who did not vote for a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
The church's action, reported Tuesday in various news outlets, alarmed gay Catholics, and other critics contend the church is crossing into forbidden political territory.
The mailings also encourage Catholic voters to offer "highest praise" to lawmakers who oppose same-sex marriage. The Massachusetts Catholic Conference (MCC), which is the lobbying group for the state's bishops, sent the letters to 710 parishes, the Boston Globe reported.
Each mailing is tailored with a scorecard, detailing the voting patterns of politicians affiliated with a parish's region. It also lists 45 lawmakers who "voted in agreement with MCC's position 100 percent," and identifies 76 politicians as "core supporters of same-sex marriage."
The timing of the letters comes five months before November elections, when voters will select all 200 members of the state House and Senate.
"It's obvious that the 'scorecard' released by the Massachusetts Catholic Conference is designed to influence the November elections," said Robert Boston, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"Federal tax law does not permit this type of back-door political intervention," he continued. "The bishops should know that. In fact, the guidelines for political activity published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington specifically warn against the distribution of single-issue voter guides."
Matthew Gallagher, executive director of DignityUSA, the nation's largest group of GLBT Catholics, also criticized the mailing.
"I think the IRS should look into the activities of the bishops of Massachusetts and the MCC to determine if they are violating their status as tax-exempt organizations taking an active role in politics," Gallagher told the PlanetOut Network.
"DignityUSA continues to be appalled at the tactics the bishops and other groups within our church will take to discriminate against the children of God," he added.
The leader of the MCC, Gerald D'Avolio, denied the mailing was an attempt to wield political influence.
"We leave it up to each pastor to disseminate or not disseminate our analysis of votes; it's his prerogative," D'Avolio told the Globe.
Approximately half of the state's residents are Catholic, the Associated Press reported.
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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