SC REVEREND WARNS AGAINST COMMUNION FOR ANYONE WHO VOTED FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT, SAYS ‘SOULS AT RISK’

A Roman Catholic priest in Greenville is making national headlines today after warning any of his parishioners that voted for Barack Obama to abstain from receiving Holy Communion until they do their penance.

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman argued that because the president-elect is pro-abortion, supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil” and that their souls may be at risk. So naturally, Democrats and the media (synonyms?) are outraged.

“Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president,” Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.” [...]

“It was not an attempt to make a partisan point,” Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. “In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same.” [...]

A man who has attended St. Mary’s for 18 years said he welcomed Newman’s message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.

“I don’t understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who’s a pro-abortion candidate,” said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. “You’re talking about the murder of innocent beings.” [AP]

I’m not one to play the double-standard card very often, but what the hell (literally).

First of all, in the context of his religion, the guy is probably right. If you believe abortion is a mortal sin and you help elect someone that supports the practice, then you run afoul of that belief.

Secondly, if this had been a pastor at a black church getting in front of his congregation saying “God Damn America” for causing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and deliberately spreading AIDS — like, say, I don’t know, Jeremiah Wright, maybe — he would have not only gotten a free pass from Obama supporters, but probably a few cheers of “Hallelujah, Amen” for good measure.

So I don’t even want to hear the feigned outrage. If liberal religious leaders can be excused for so outrageous things, then by God so to can conservatives. Amen to that.