Thursday, August 19, 2004

If John Kerry can't be both Catholic and pro-choice, how come George Bush gets to be Methodist and pro-war?

[Update: go here for a much more extensive, quality break-down of the same topic.]

Not that you asked, but here's a letter I just sent to my local papers, painfully limited to 200 words:

Some have claimed that John Kerry isn't a true Catholic simply for being pro-choice. I believe that Kerry's religious views should be left between him and God. Those who wish to make this a campaign issue would do well to consider George W. Bush's standing with his church too.

UMC leaders have attempted to discuss their concerns over the Iraq War with President Bush since before it began. Yet, he still refuses to meet with them. At the 2004 General Conference, Bishop Melvin Talbert, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, said "One of the pains on my heart has been his claim to be ultra religious, yet he has not found the time to receive a delegation of United Methodist bishops."

Paragraph 165C, in the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, reads in part: "We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ...[we] insist that the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among them..."

If John Kerry can't be both Catholic and pro-choice, how come George Bush gets to be Methodist and pro-war?


(Sources are here and here.)


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