Rep. Woolsey Attacks Bishops

bishops

On NRO’s The Corner blog, John J. Pitney Jr. wrote this week about Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-California) attack on Catholic bishops, after the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) successfully pressured congressional leaders to allow a vote on the pro-life Stupak amendment. Said Woolsey:

 “I expect political hardball on any legislation as important as the health care bill. I just didn’t expect it from the United States Council [sic] of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Who elected them to Congress?”

Claiming that they “managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure,” therefore the IRS should reconsider the church’s tax status. In other words—sanction the church with for advocating for life in the political arena.

Pitney points to the last time that a representative admonished the Catholic church for getting too involved in politics. Here is what Sen. Stephen A. Douglas (D-Illinois) had to say in 1854 about the Church’s anti-slavery petition:

“It is an attempt to establish a theocracy to take charge of our politics and our legislation.  It is an attempt to make the legislative power of this country subordinate to the church.  It is not only to unite Church and State, but it is to put the State in subordination to the dictates of the church.”

Wow. Yeah, those bishops should really mind their own business!

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