Letters: Religion, not politics

Re “Keeping politics out of the pulpit,” Editorial, Nov. 5

Today I consider myself a freelance Catholic. I still go to Mass daily because I really enjoy the experience, but that’s about it. I don’t want anything to do with the organization.

Two quotes from your editorial — one in which a Roman Catholic bishop says those who enable the destruction of life also reject Jesus, and another from a bishop who suggested that hellfire awaits those who vote the wrong way — are particularly egregious but typical of present-day Catholic hierarchical thinking.

I voted for President Obama because I think he is the best person to lead this country; by doing so, I do not reject Jesus. What they are saying is that Catholics can no longer vote their conscience but rather must vote as they are told. How do these bishops keep their tax-exempt status?

Michael Carter

Alhambra

While the editorial page rails against politics in the pulpit, citing one example after another of Roman Catholics doing it, behold, I turned to another page of the same paper to discover Gov. Jerry Brown, advocate of Proposition 30, sitting in the pew of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. Do the editors approve of Democrats going to churches to push for their causes but disapprove of Republicans speaking from the pulpit in support of their causes?

Robert S. Rodgers

Culver City

It’s surprising to me that so many preachers’ ideas of evil seem to be limited to abortion and perhaps gay marriage. Yet the profoundly anti-Christian philosophy of Ayn Rand that some Republicans espouse and want to impose on America does not seem to reach the level of evil. Nor did George W. Bush’s war of choice that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans. One suspects this morality is influenced by politics; it should be the other way around.

Jean Lecuyer

Los Angeles

If corporations and unions are allowed to speak publicly about candidates and issues under the guise of freedom of speech, why shouldn’t churches, regardless of denomination, be allowed to do likewise without fearing an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service? At least there will be a moral and ethical basis behind their beliefs, which neither of the aforementioned organizations has demonstrated to any degree.

James P. Murphy

Santa Clarita

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