The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Your View

November 3, 2012

Your View: Catholic hierarchy has been wrong before

William A. Anderson, Mankato

If nothing else, this election campaign has given us a look at what theocracy could bring to Minnesota. We have an archbishop who, whether based on personal piety or promotional aspirations, has converted massive amounts of church funds from a mission of caring to a right-wing cause, and has tried to silence debate and stifle the consciences of his flock.

We don’t have to go all the way back to the Inquisition to find the Catholic hierarchy initially on the wrong side of issues. Whether it was picking the wrong team at the onset of World War II and ignoring the Holocaust, opposing women’s rights, opposing inter-racial marriage, opposing family planning, protecting pedophiles, and now opposing marriage rights, the church has a litany of events for which it has already apologized or someday will.

The arguments for discrimination come down to two: The one about parenting (we’re doing it for the children) and the one the Bible-thumpers write about (we believe everything in the Old Testament). Oddly, they cite the problems in some single-parent families.

Even if we ignore that most single-parent families started as heterosexual families, the data show that the biggest problems for single families are the reduced incomes and supervisory time when there is only one wage-earner/parent. Neither of these is a problem for same-sex couples.

Instead of cherry-picking Biblical verses from Leviticus (the book that takes a strong pro-stoning perspective and abhors haircuts), why not look at the message of love in the Gospels?

Whether the change is based on religious belief or homophobia, neither of these is the basis for modifying our Constitution — vote “no.”

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