This really upsets me for some reason, I guess because I live in Charlotte and it was signed by the Charlotte Bishop. And I'm an atheist, go figure. But I try to respect other people's religious beliefs, which to my mind puts me ahead of the Bishop of Charlotte. I got wind of it from Charlotte.com (free subscription required). Anyway, I shot off this email to the only email address I could find (chancery@charlottediocese.org)-
"I read with dismay on the Charlotte.com website just a few moments ago that the Bishop of Charlotte has decided to use his position within the church to browbeat politicians into supporting positions that the church approves of. While I abhor this idea, I have little hope of softening the Bishop's heart on this matter. Indeed, anyone who would withold the joy of Communion from a fellow believer is truly the hypocrite in this matter.
Allow me a few moments of your time to share my thoughts on this subject-
Politicians are elected to serve all the people that reside in the district they represent, whether they are a small town mayor or the President of the US. This is their job. There are two types of politicians to my mind. There are those who try to represent their constituency to the best of their ability, while using the faiths and values learned in church (or synagogue or mosque or what-have-you) to guide their actions and then there are those who do the reverse. These are the politicians who try to get their constituency to adhere to their own values by enacting new laws and regulations designed to force specific choices on the people who voted them into office.
I fully support the right of all politicians to use the faiths and values they have learned in their place of worship to guide their actions. I do NOT support the right of politicians to force their constituents to adhere to those values. And this is exactly what you are trying to do. You are trying to force politicians to heel, to come crawling to Mother Church for forgiveness, to push through the social and political agenda of the church by threatening to withold the most basic rites of their religious beliefs.
This country was founded on the idea of religious freedom. What you are doing is the antithesis of this grand idea. Do you want Southern Baptists using this strategy? Many of them believe that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon, and other odd notions. How about the other Protestant groups? Do they get to do this too? You are leading us down a very dangerous and slippery slope.
But as I stated in the beginning, I have little hope of softening the heart of the Bishop on this matter. I do, however, have a constructive suggestion. The Bishop can lessen the hypocrisy of singling out this one political issue by witholding Communion from politicians who are careening away from the control of the church in other areas. To that end, I offer up two issues that are against church teachings or that the Pope has specifically spoken about within recent memory, and yet are supported by many Catholic politicians. I look forward to hearing from the Bishop on how quickly he will assert his belief that politicians veering from these teachings will be punished. If the Bishop and others wish to inject their religious power into the political discourse by witholding rites from Catholic politicians, then this should be applied to all politicians who-
1) Supported the Iraq war. Pope John Paul II says the anti-war movement shows a "large part of humanity" has rejected war as a means of solving conflicts between nations. By now, he said, "it should be clear" that except for self-defence against an aggressor, a "large part of humanity" has repudiated war as an instrument of resolving conflicts between nations.
2) Support the death penalty. The church and the pope are quite clearly against capital punishment.
There are, I'm sure, other issues that I have left off this list that the Bishop would like to see pursued more vigorously to ensure that the Catholic Church's views are propagated throughout the US. However, of course, finding a Catholic politician who is pro-life, anti-war and anti-death penalty may be difficult. But the Bishop has demonstrated an ability to think "outside the box" and I'm confident he can find politicians who fit within these guidelines established by the church.
I look forward to a thoughtful response on these points."
Anyway, I doubt I'll hear from them. But as stated, this pisses me off. And I figured I could finally get a use from these diaries. If this bugs you like it bugs me, find a better email address and let them have it. Thanks.
PS-Um, I'm assuming it is joyful to take communion, and not a sad or trying occassion.
PPS-Any devout Kossacks will see a small part that I plagiarized from Kos. My thanks (and apologies) to him. :)
