Today, I read a perfect example of how religious dogma transcends all rationality and practicality. The link to the article is at the end, but here’s the synopsis.
A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”
Evidently, the priest distributed a letter to parishioners telling them that they are “putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.” The article goes on to say “A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.”
Doing penance for their vote? Risking their immortal soul by voting a certain way?
So what is being said here is that if you voted for a candidate based on issues such as the economy, international relations, national security, taxes, jobs, or any other practical issue, but the candidate you voted for supports abortion rights, you’re going to Hell… unless (with the Catholics) you do your penance.
In other words, 2000-year-old religious dogma trumps rational decision-making.
The article does say that not all people of faith (even Catholics) agree with that position. However, the fact that there are people who believe it (probably a significant number of people) and there are institutions that back up that position and that those people and institutions are trying to push their ancient mythological dogma on our country and government makes me not only incredulous, but angry.
I completely support freedom of speech and happily grant people the right to believe whatever they want to believe, but when their belief turns into dogmatic, mob-mentality, tunnel vision that overtakes rational thought and threatens to harm the country and the government, there’s a problem.
That is where the “intrinsic evil” lies.
Here’s the link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705755/