Dude, Who Stole My Religion? It would be so much easier to be a fundamentalist. To have some Ayatollah or Jerry Falwell dictate what I should think would make this election much, much easier. A Time magazine poll in June found that 73 percent of Catholics said Kerry should not be denied Communion. And nearly that many said the Catholic Church should not try to influence the positions of Catholic politicians. Similar results have turned up in other independent polls and in a recent poll conducted by Catholics for a Free Choice. "It seems to be very political that these bishops have singled out John Kerry," said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pittsburgh and one of three signers who oppose abortion rights. "What about pro-choice Republicans? Is (New York Mayor) George Pataki not welcome to receive Communion? Is Tom Ridge not welcome?" Ridge's bishop in Erie, Pa., barred him from speaking at Catholic events in that diocese when Ridge was Pennsylvania's governor. But Ridge, now Bush's homeland security secretary, was not forbidden from receiving Communion. Other Democrats say the church could hurt itself by focusing so narrowly on abortion. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., recently produced a scorecard analyzing Catholic senators on positions taken by the Catholic bishops conference. The scorecard looked at environmental, labor and foreign policy as well as abortion. Kerry received the highest score, while most Republicans came in lower. A small handful of Pro-Bush Catholic Bishops and partisan attack dogs in league with the Swift Boat Veterans for Complete Bull**it have attempted to paint themselves as representatives of Catholicism at large, even though both the vatican and the vast majority of catholics disagree with their extremist campaign. Who is calling the shots, theologically speaking, for mainstream Christianity today? Judging from news and television coverage of Christianity and from what I've inferred from quasi-religious claptrap like 7th heaven, the only social issues Christians today take into account are abortion and safeguarding the virginity of teenage daughters. What happened to those nuns that used to hold signs up in front of Honeywell protesting their production of landmines? Quote Source: