The Religious Left

I was planning to post another snotty diatribe about Republicans. But then the Pope died and it just didn't seem the proper time to indulge in even a little minor veniality.

Lately, we've been beseiged by a constant onslaught from the Religious Right. The election. The Shiavo case. Gay marriage. Sponge Bob. I told a friend: "These people make Jesus look bad. He's running with a bad crowd these days."

Thankfully, there is a Religious Left and it is time for those of us who are progressive and religious to acknowledge that the Religious Right does not have a lock on family values or morality.

Take the case of Pope John Paul II. He came to power as a strong advocate of labor unions. Sounds Democratic to me. He spent a great deal of his energy travelling to the 3rd World where he advocated the forgiveness of foreign debts imposed by entities such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. John Paul II would have fit in at the protest against IMF and the World Bank in Seattle. Sounds Democratic to me. John Paul II expressed a great deal of skepticism about the ravages of unrestrained capitalism on the poor of the world. He also opposed the war in Iraq. Pretty Liberal stuff there.

But this same man also embraced what can only be described as a lethal adherence to the ban on birth control in the face of an African AIDS pandemic of truly Biblical proportions. He opposed gay marriage, female ordination, divorce, abortion, euthanasia, and any sex not intended for the sole purpose of procreation.

To be a Catholic truly requires a suspension of disbelief. It's called faith. Faith allows you to swallow some of the malarky, the truly eye-rolling moments of burning bushes and people being regurgitated from the GI tract of a whale. But honestly, aren't there moments as Democrats, where we have eye-rolling moments when our candidates launch off on some embarrassing fringe issue?

There are Catholics who use birth control and have sex for fun. That doesn't mean they aren't good Catholics. There are Democrats who oppose abortion due to their religious beliefs. That doesn't mean they aren't good Democrats. You take away from your religion those aspects that have resonance and meaning in your life. The same is true for your political affiliation. You don't have to buy into the whole program to buy into most of it.

This week we lost John Paul II, a true hero of the people. I choose to look past some of his crazy policies to see the immense good accomplished by his life of service. I see in him an example of a life lived for a God in Heaven and Social Justice on Earth.