I’m always making mental associations between readings from my past that seem related to current news articles. My associations are free flowing. The language of "American Taliban", ah, Marcos’ book did not receive a mention. However, I would consider this AP article a backhanded recognition.
I’m not sure at this point if the journalist, Ms. Zoll, intends to present an unbiased piece of journalism, or to engage both Liberal and Conservative Catholics. I can only relate to personal experience. I married a Liberal Catholic is the short story.
below the fold
Just to set up the diary with some background: my last employer is a millionaire, "small" business owner, a conservative Catholic Deacon, and member of Gloria Dei. He occasionally called me to his office to "discuss" questions on faith and doctrine. We had an excellent working relationship. He really had no questions about his conservative views, or none he was willing to confess. I went along with the pretense.
Our last discussion was on the "morality of using birth control". My former boss had 6 children, from age 5 to 22. He could afford to give them every advantage, and family was always his priority. Long story made short, I told him that I believed it was immoral to bring innocent children into a family that was facing deportation, starvation, or living in poverty. After much polite listening, I closed with, "as you know, I do not believe that men, or any religion have a moral right to dictate this choice for women".
I think this is a topic worthy of a civil discussion. Let’s bring it out of "closet". This not so subtle McCarthyism, in a search for "Marxist influence" is shameful. "Combing through campaign finance records" sounds like the Inquisitions of the Dark Ages never ended, "Traitorous Catholics" sounds like gwb "you’re either for US or against US.
Stephen King had it right; witch hunts are not a thing of the past. Warlock hunts, on the other hand, were not very popular in the American Colonies of yesterday, nor are Warlocks receiving equal treatment today.
In closing, I also recall a related speech by Former President Clinton (after reading Rushdie?), during a college graduation ceremony; what is most important when considering the role of government, our shared values, or our differences?
I recommend reading the entire article before commenting, optional of course.
http://hosted.ap.org/...
Oct 24, 10:02 AM EDT
Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
...snip
- In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint of Marxist influence.
- Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff of Catholic agencies who donate to politicians who support abortion rights.
- RealCatholicTV.com, working from studios in suburban Detroit, is hunting for "traitorous" nuns, priests or bishops throughout the American church.
...snip
John Allen, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, has dubbed this trend "Taliban Catholicism." But he says it's not a strictly conservative phenomenon - liberals can fit the mindset, too, Allen says. Some left-leaning Catholics are outraged by any exercise of church authority.
...snip
Among Voris' many media ventures is the CIA - the Catholic Investigative Agency - a program from RealCatholicTV to "bring to light the dark deeds of evil Catholics-in-name-only, who are hijacking the Church for their own ends, not the ends of Christ."
In an episode called "Catholic Tea Party," Voris said: "Catholics need to be aware and studied and knowledgeable enough about the faith to recognize a heretical nun or a traitorous priest or bishop when they see one - not so they can vote them out of office, but so they can pray for them, one, and alert as many other Catholics as possible to their treachery, two."
Are some Conservative Catholics like the Former Gov. of Alabama, George Wallace during the 60’s, or 70’s? NO, could not be like Wallace, he was a Democratic Candidate for President in the bad old days. Our Blue Dogs look good in comparison to the recent attempts to turn the USA into a "Christian" theocracy.
Progress is relative, if you have the good fortune of a long life, and the willingness to consider changing your opinion based on facts. (All this emotional stuff from the right convinces me that "intellect over emotions" is non-existent among the "faithful".) I've also lived the sad recycles of ugly, more anger, more purity tests, more religion in a fanatical race to the bottom of the moral barrel. "Judge not least ye be judged", "
As always, I will read and respond to comments. The floor is yours, write a diary, post a link, or ignore the topic.