How Extreme Are The Theocons?

More extreme even than Benedict. A reader notes:

The priest who denied communion to Doug Kmiec because he supports Obama obviously didn't get the memo, that memo written in July 2004 by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in response to a query from the American bishops, which said in part:

"When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for the candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons."

We are, in these days, in the presence of some proportionate reasons that include an unjust war with no viable exit strategy, the embrace of torture, and more.

I'd suggest that Catholics who support Obama wear buttons or other tokens of that support when they go to Mass. If they're denied communion, they can give that memo to the priests who've denied it to them.

I'd prefer no political buttons at mass of any kind. But my reader's point is well taken. When some priests deny communion because of support for a presidential candidate, the conflation of politics and religion is hideously complete. And that is the goal of the theocons: to erase any space for private conscience or any distinction between public and private.