Our Lady of Perpetual Political Meddling Perpetuated by People Who Probably Believe Catholics aren't Christians Anyway

There's been grudging admission from sources in and around Vatican City that President Bush has asked for the Pope's uh... encouragement to get American Catholic bishops to better go along with his policies.

Frankly, this stinks worse than fish left over unrefrigerated from last week's meatless Friday (and before you think I'm just bashing, understand that I spent my first 18 years NOT eating meat on Fridays because of the Catholic tradition).

Lately, there's been quite a bit of meddling on both sides of the supposed Separation of Church and State. Democrats have been targeted by some bishops - and I say targeted because we've heard none of this standard applied to Catholics like Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge, and George Pataki - who say that communion (a most sacred rite) should be withheld from them because they "support" either gay marriage or a woman's right to choose or both. A bishop in Colorado took this a leap further by saying communion should not be given to any Catholic who votes for a candidate who supports choice.

Now, granted, the Pope jumped in a lot during the leadup to the Iraq War, too. However, you do rather expect the Pope or any major religious leader of any faith (hopefully) to appeal against bloodshed and strife. That's a little different from having bishops insert themselves politically in an issue than can affect voting in November since the Pope didn't say, "if you support this war, you can't get communion".

I think we're no longer just on a slippery slope - we're full-fledged hanging on to a skinny branch before we fall irretrievably into the abyss.

As someone who believes in God, I understand to some degree how one's faith affects other issues in one's life. But we've really come to a time now where someone else's faith affects issues in other people's lives, and not always in a wonderfully positive way. Notably:

* We're having people say that a woman cannot choose control over her own body because their God says it's wrong.

* The FDA cancelled the sale of "the morning after" pill even after their scientific advisory board approved it due to pressure from religious groups that didn't want it, while at least one pharmacist has refused to provide a woman with a "morning after" pill prescription because it was "immoral".

* We're watching communities struggle with whether to allow more than 10 percent of the US population have the freedom to marry because some people feel gay marriage is illegal and a crime against their God.

* There's a huge fight because one judge spirited a huge "10 commandments" sculpture into a state building and then refuses to remove it.

* A general tells us that our president was appointed by God and not by voters.

* We have a president who feels God talks to him and tells him what to do (and I don't mean metaphorically either).

* The Supremes today effectively - through default - sanctions the endorsement of one specific religion (I don't buy this iffy, generic deism crap - we're talking the God of Scalia) in the pledge of allegiance.

And this is merely the public-covered tip of the iceberg.