in their god to be able to take care of himself
If I remember correctly god said to turn the other cheek

Since practically no mainstream religious group (yeah, I'm including the fundies in that, there are so damned many of them) suffers any real religious persecution in the historical sense of the word, they have to invent it.

However, that said, I could probably find some reform Jews who secretly enjoy a bacon double cheeseburger, but would have a problem if the government asked their rabbi to cook it and pay for it. That's the nearest analogy I can come up with to explain the sense of insult that has been blown up to monumental proportions.

At the first potluck my family went to at our old synagogue, more than one family brought decidedly non-Kosher foods (pork, mixed meat/dairy, and shellfish). There were some rolled eyes, but no one really cared.

Plus, it's common knowledge that when it comes to following that sort of rule, two wrongs make a right--bacon is wrong, cheeseburger is wrong, but the two infractions cancel each other out. You just have to make sure that you have an even number of infractions.

For example:

-Cheeseburgers are OK if any odd number of ingredients aren't kosher, or if you're cooking it on the Sabbath.

-Extra-marital sex is OK if it's with someone of the same sex, if one person is menstruating, has menstruated within the last week, or has touched someone who has menstruated in the last week, or while eating a not-OK cheeseburger.

-Coveting is always OK if you're wearing mixed fibers. Same with taking God's name in vain or working on the Sabbath.

The list goes on and on.

but I was trying to use a religion that depends on heavily on guilt, as did my Catholic upbringing (which I have fortunately shaken off).

The idea is, the laity is OK with the clergy being "holier" than they are, and wishing to stay that way, despite what the laity picks and chooses from the doctrine.

decide what happens inside a woman's uterus, what pills a woman should take, and what she should do if she becomes pregnant as the result of a rape.

The Catholic Bishops, yup, that's who should control all the women in this country, and decide what's right and wrong.

SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that because the Catholic church disapproves of divorce and remarriage, it should be against the law for people to remarry after a divorce.

Or more likely he doesn't think that.

It's WOMEN'S rights that these right-wingers mainly want to suppress.

Obama is a Christian, and discusses his religion; just because he is not a fanatical right-winger and so-called 'pro-lifer'*, does not mean he is at war with religion.

I hate right-wing scum.

I am glad to say that most Catholic clergy in this country do not share these obsessions, though those who do, rant about why religious people in England can't be more like those in America.


*Anyone who is only interested in outlawing abortion, and not in reducing infant mortality, cannot be truly called 'pro-life'.