Hannity the Liberal (Full Column)

Spirit and Life ^ | 3/12/2007 | Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer

[Religion Moderator]

Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.

[Siobhan]

Dear Religion Moderator, It is already personal when sarasmom questions whether we Catholics have a place in the public square and then compares us by example to Muslims' stoning an infidel.

[Religion Moderator]

sarasmom was also pinged. The personal remarks end here.

[Siobhan]

Dear Religion Moderator, What is the protocol to be followed when one's religion has been attacked as to its worthiness for participation in the public square?

[Religion Moderator]

For all the guidelines pertaining to the Religion Forum, click here. The section on open threads reads:

4. All other threads on the Religion Forum are “Open” which means they are like a town square. Challenges and ridicule will occur. Expect them to be contentious, rough or even insulting. Your confession will be maligned on open threads. Your beloved religious figures will be ridiculed. Don’t complain because the author or a religious figure is called a liar, demon, heretic or whatever on an open thread. It is to be expected in the town square. Remember too that the Religion Forum is densely populated with highly educated theologians. If you are ill-equipped to defend your confession, you’ll get beat up on “Open” thread. When in doubt, ping one of your best defenders and withdraw to a “Closed” thread.

[Salvation]

**Now the stoning of the infidel may continue.....**

Of whom are you speaking?

[EternalVigilance]

ping...

[Running On Empty]

"...the Religion Forum is densely populated with highly educated theologians."

Now I know what my problem is. :-)

[Religion Moderator]

LOL!

[Siobhan]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate that you outlined the Rules of Engagement as well as your willingness to allow a religion or confession to be attacked on Open threads.

My personal experience has been that anti-Catholicism in the United States has had a decidedly racist element to it and that global attacks upon Catholics and Catholicism are often not merely within the range of competing ideas especially when someone wants to silence us as a group and deny us a place in American government and American civil life.

[Religion Moderator]

It's a back-handed compliment. Your confession wouldn't be attacked if it were insignificant.

Through the ages, Christianity of every confession has been attacked. I'd be concerned if they were being ignored...

[Salvation]

**Through the ages, Christianity of every confession has been attacked. I'd be concerned if they were being ignored...**

If that were the case, I think many of us would either be dead, due to our faith or living in a catacomb of secluded area somewhere.

Lord, have mercy on all of us!

[Tax-chick]

Did anyone burn Hannity's car?

Pat wandered past, ethereally, and mumbled, "He's a heretic ..."

[Tax-chick]

This latest incident just seals the deal for me - yes, Hannity is stupid.

I confess that I haven't listened to him on the radio, or seen his TV show much lately. I was operating on the assumption that someone that successful must be reasonably bright.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

If it comes down to it, I'll vote for Rudy over Her Heinousness, but with a clothespin on my nose. The fact that Sean is backing him so wholeheartedly is troubling...

[marshmallow]

But you are all free to continue to deride any and all Catholics whom you deem unworthy of belonging to your particular religious sect.

It's not that we don't want Hannity. Rather it's the reverse. Hannity doesn't seem to want the Church. At least not in its present form. He disagrees (apparently) with some of its basic teachings and would like it to conform to his personal schematic.

Like any organization whose membership is voluntary, nobody is compelled to belong. However membership does carry the expectation of support for the basic beliefs and aims of the group. There's nothing peculiarly Catholic about that idea. I mean, it's not like Hannity has no other choices or options. Nobody is holding a gun to his head. If he wants a Church which has no problem with artificial birth control, all he needs do is walk out the front door and take a left. He'll find about a dozen within a two block radius.

[Jeff Chandler]

This latest incident just seals the deal for me - yes, Hannity is stupid.

I don't think he's inherently stupid. He may have a high I.Q.. He is, however, ignorant and arrogant, a combination which produces stupid words and deeds.

[Alex Murphy]

"...the Religion Forum is densely populated with highly educated theologians."

As Willy Wonka would say, "strike that - reverse it."

"...the Religion Forum is highly populated with dense/educated theologians."

[jmc813]

You have to wonder about anyone who can claim to be friends with Alan Colmes.

Colmes actually is a super-nice dude.

[sarasmom]

I listened to Sean's rebuttal yesterday on the drive home, to a caller who claimed he was a Catholic, and essentially said Sean was wrong in not publically denouncing any and all forms of birth controll for everyone, since Sean proclaimed himself to be a Catholic.

(As I have stated several times, I knew Sean Hannity was a Christian, but I had no idea which Christian sect he was personally affiliated with)

Since his radio/TV talk shows are essentially political/current events oriented in nature, and not religiously themed, I don't understand why any Catholic, priest or laymen, feels free to personally and publically attack him, as a public figure, for the "sin" of not using his microphone to advance a decidedly Catholic sect specific agenda.

I have visited Catholic churches as an invited non-Catholic guest at weddings, funerals,special holy days, and regular mass services.
At no time did I ever observe 100% of the Catholic congregation participate in public communion rites.
My Catholic friends have told me this was normal, and just because I was not expected to partake of the holy sacrament,for that would make it a mockery, many devout practitioners of the faith do not participate at any given time, based upon personal reasons that are none of anyones else's business.


All that said, I still don't care which Christian sect Sean Hannity claims a personal, spiritual, private affiliation with.