Gay marriage the new red menace, according to New York archbishop

[n2doc]

By Susan Jacoby

Gay marriage supporter C.D. Caldwell of New York covers his mouth with tape during a rally in a hallway outside a Republican conference room at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. He said the tape signified that supporters were at the Capitol to talk to senators, and not opponents, about marriage equality. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (Mike Groll - AP)

As I write, it is uncertain whether the New York State Senate will pass a bill legalizing gay marriage over the fierce opposition of the powerful archbishop of New York, Timothy J. Dolan. Other religious denominations, including both African-American and white Protestant fundamentalist churches, have fought the bill, but in the state of New York, the Catholic Church is the biggest and roughest player. This is also a personal dispute among Catholics, because New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who strongly supports gay marriage, is a Catholic accused by the Vatican of “public concubinage” for living with a woman to whom he is not married.

Whatever the outcome, the political battle over gay marriage in New York casts a new light on the determination of the religious right to mobilize general anti-government sentiment on behalf of religious causes. Until now, the Catholic Church (like fundamentalist African-American churches) has performed a delicate balancing act in this area, because while the Church wants the state to privilege conservative religious doctorine on matter such as abortion, assisted dying and gay marriage, it does not share the general opposition to big government and social spending promulgated by those white evangelical Protestants who are also economic conservatives.

Not since the days when Francis Cardinal Spellman blasted Eleanor Roosevelt for promoting “discrimination unworthy of an American mother”—she had declared her opposition in 1949 to federal tax subsidies for parochial school programs—has the Catholic hierarchy in New York taken such an aggressive stance on a political issue. (See my Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, pp. 101-103.)

On his widely read blog, “The Gospel in the Digital Age,” Dolan compared legalization of gay marriage to the intrusion on personal and family life by the governments of China and North Korea.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/spirited-atheist/post/gay-marriage-the-new-red-menace-according-to-new-york-archbishop/2011/06/22/AGXTVrfH_blog.html

[tnlefty]

1. I am speechless,

and that's unusual.

[Angry Dragon]

2. It is past time to take away the tax-exemp status of the catholic church

Why should they get free money while they try to take away my rights??

Tax them like the big business they are

[customerserviceguy]

5. While that's probably a good idea

what gets me is how much sway the RCC has. Here in the NE, more than half of the Catholics I meet are 'cafeteria Catholics', they pick and choose what parts of the BS they actually follow.

With such weak adherence, why do legislators listen to this crap?

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Did the Klan have 'cafeteria' members too?

"We contribute and participate, but lots of that stuff is just silly."- Guy in a Sheet

[yardwork]

10. Money and turning out the vote.

[ergot]

3. I'm not really much inclined to take advice from a homophobic asshole wearing a dress.

:grr:

[hedgehog]

4. 52% of New York Catholics support gay marriage. No more hiding

behind the archbishop's skirts!

[Bluenorthwest]

7. And yet, how many help pay Dolan's salary?

As long as they stand with him as their chosen, paid representative, their 'support' is of a dubious kind.

[Meeker Morgan]

8. The Catholic Church is not a Democracy.

I thought people knew that. :evilgrin:

[okasha]

12. They didn't choose him.

He was appointed by the Vatican, just as all bishops and archbishops are.

It's Episcopalians who elect their bishops, and they've elected two openly gay ones.

[Evasporque]

9. Fuck that peodophile appeasing asshat!

He is a corporate climber of the catholic kind...brown noser extrodinare.

His career ends in NY.

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. He's right. Sort of.

The Church had half the world shaking in its proverbial boots in the late forties and fifties.

Red menace... and all that.Kept the faithful in line and, well.... faithful.

Reds are gone or inconsequential. But the need for an external existential threat remains.


Phil Ochs
Christian cannons have fired at my days
With the warning beneath the holy blaze
And bow to our authority
Say the cannons of Christianity
Oh the children will be sent to schools
Minds of clay are molded to their rules
Learn to fear all of eternity
Warn the cannons of Christianity
Holy hands will count the money raised
Like a king the Lord is richly praised
On a cross of diamond majesty
Say the cannons of Christianity
Missionaries will travel on crusades
The word is given, the heathen souls are saved
Conversions to our morality
Sigh the cannons of Christianity
Come the wars and turn the rules around
Defend your soul on the battle ground

< From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/cannons-of-christianity-lyrics-ochs-phil.html >

And the Lord will march beside me
Drone the cannons of Christianity
Cathedral walls will glitter with their gold
And the sermons speak through silver robes
Building castles amidst the poverty
Say the cannons of Christianity
Worship now and wash your sins away
Drop the coins, fall to your knees and pray
Cleanse the world of all hypocrisy
Smile the cannons of Christianity
Christian cannons have fired at my days
With the warning beneath the holy blaze
And bow to our authority
Say the cannons of Christianity
Cry the cannons of Christianity