Catholic Church Sez: Let Us Discriminate or Your Charity Gets It

It seems the Catholic church is making some threats:

I've always found the Book of Matthew rather beautiful: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...."

It goes on to say, "Unless you live in a city where gays can get married, in which case, to hell with it."

OK, it doesn't really say that last part, but the D.C. Archdiocese may be confused on the point.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

"If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. "The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

Keep in mind, Catholic Charities receives quite a bit of taxpayer money to do social service work -- contracts that existed long before Bush's "faith-based" initiative. The archdiocese is now saying it would abandon its charitable contracts with the city if local officials legalize same-sex marriage.

Or as my friend Rob Boston put it, "Let me get this straight: The church is saying, 'Unless you bow to our demands, we'll stop taking your money'?"

Outrageous little shits, aren't they? It's nice to see somewhat more enlightened religious folks piling on them:

D.C. Clergy United For Marriage Equality, a group of pro-gay marriage religious leaders in the District, released a statement condemning the archdiocese for its threats today. From the statement:

"The Catholic Church hierarchy is at a crossroads: they must decide whether they are in the charity business for charity¹s sake, or if imposing their will on the D.C. City Council and the citizens of the District is their primary interest."

Later Update: More D.C. church groups have been sending us their condemnation of the Catholic position on the city's proposed same-sex marriage law. Bishop John Bryson Chane, head of the District's Episcopal church, emphasized that the charity arm of his church will continue to provide relief to D.C.'s less fortunate.

"Episcopalians understand that none of us has the right to violate the human rights of another individual," he said. "That's the law of the District of Columbia. More important, it's at the core of the Gospel."

I say fuck giving the religious groups government money, and put secular groups in charge, but I'll settle for less bigoted bishops getting involved.  Fuck the Catholic church.  Oh, and while we're at it, Stephanie at Almost Diamonds has a good idea, based on the church's political efforts to send a giant fuck-you to gays in Maine: "Tax 'em."


Too fucking right.