"Potical rhetoric from a priest (Catholic or Orthodox) is plain wrong. The Protestants have their own ideas; but the two oldest Christian traditions have, as the reason to come to church - the Eucharist. A good exposition of the readings (Epistle and Gospel) is standard. And there are some priests who can do that. Those who cannot, and use the time to preach their opinions need to be slapped down."
Yeah, wouldn't want to be in the thick of a global religious war and have any of our priests take a stand, would we? IMO, your thinking derives from the we must always be FAIR to all people all the time philosophy, which is simply an offshoot of political correctness. What if suicide bombers start going into Catholic high masses and killing us by the score--then would it maybe be all right for a priest to, uh, voice an opinion?
Islamofascists have pledged for centuries, to do this: convert or kill Christians, kill Jews. And in case you haven't checked the news, they've been stepping up their efforts. Priests not only have a right to voice opinions, to my mind they have an obligation--as there are Americans who are the enemy within, there is a whole cadre of Catholic priests who are the enemy of the Church. THEY need slapped down! What kind of cleric preaches condemnation of the side that was attacked, and "understanding" of the barbarians who want to wipe out their religion?!
Well, I always stop when I start to sound like Michael Savage.
But it is time for you to put the acoustic guitar down.
I always know something is wrong when the person addressing me thinks fairness is a vice and not a virtue. If we can't even agree that fairness is a virtue, the chance of any intelligent conversation is about nil.
If these pontifcating priests (on both sides of the politics) were risking anything (like a bullet in the head, as many have) that is one thing. I could respect that.
The other thing is this bunch of effete, American priests, who spend way too much time watching television, instead of fasting and praying, and then bringing such spew into their homilies.
Again - I am talking both sides of the political divide.