[sinkspur]

This is why many people did not want to vote for Kennedy; because the church would have such control.

Yeah, the church has such "control" that half the Catholics in Congress support abortion.

This is not about control. If one wants to call himself a Catholic, he cannot do that if his public stances oppose Catholicism.

He is free to leave Catholicism or change his view.

[Zack Nguyen]

He said Burke had "crossed the line into unacceptable territory."

Does this sound ominous to anyone else? Almost as if the Congressman is warning the Bishop. The opening line of the article sounds as if the Bishop had entered territory he had no right to enter.

I'm telling you, within most of our lifetimes there will be a showdown between church and state. Not just the Catholic Church, but Protestants/evangelicals as well. Too many leftists in this country worship government power as God. And this God will brook no rivals. Be prayed up and ready.

[BikerNYC]

The control the church has is to cut the person off from rituals the person finds important and significant. It is not easy to leave a religion one has belonged to for a lifetime, and the church knows this. The risk is that a politician will vote because of the kind of blackmail seen in this case.

The church's blackmail weakens its moral authority. I appears as though the church itself does not believe any punishment in the afterlife will be sufficient; rather, punishment in this life is necessary.