Catholics v. Gays

In November, Maine voters will vote on whether or not to repeal their marriage equality law allowing same-sex couples to be legally hitched. Not content to just sit on the sidelines and bitch about condoms, the Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine is taking up collection money in church to help pay for TV ads lobbying for repeal. This makes sense, as the Bible clearly lumps homosexuality in with eating shellfish and allowing women to braid their hair as sins against God. Where this gets tricky is the fact that as a religious organization, the Catholic church is tax exempt in the U.S. One stipulation of this cushy status is that the church can't politicize itself. What did Jesus say about giving things to Caesar? For his part, Rev. Louis Phillips is sticking to his guns. "Marriage pre-dates government," he says. That may be true (though probably not). But what we understand as marriage today doesn't pre-date government at all. You know, a social contract entered into by consenting adults instead of, say, young girls being forced to marry whatever dude flashes enough cash at her parents. In fact, you could say it took the enforcement of civil rights by the government to create the modern institution of marriage. In your face, tax dodger! More details here. Link via @BadAstronomer.