Bush Asked for Vatican's Help on Political Issues, Report Says

On his recent trip to Rome, President Bush asked a top Vatican official to push American bishops to speak out more about political issues, including same-sex marriage, according to a report in the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper.

In a column posted Friday evening on the paper's Web site, John L. Allen Jr., its correspondent in Rome and the dean of Vatican journalists, wrote that Mr. Bush had made the request in a June 4 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state. Citing an unnamed Vatican official, Mr. Allen wrote: "Bush said, 'Not all the American bishops are with me' on the cultural issues. The implication was that he hoped the Vatican would nudge them toward more explicit activism."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/politics/13george.html

Period.

you need to get on the phone tomorrow morning!
Bill scheduled for monday hearing would allow churches to endorse candidates without losing their tax exempt status.
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"Son of Jones" Bill Snuck Into Tax Bill - House Scheduled to Have Hearing on Bill This Monday!

Provision Would Allow Clergy and Houses of Worship to Endorse Candidates Up To Three Times Per Election Year Without Losing Their Tax Exempt Status!

Despite the overwhelming opposition of people of faith and good will across the nation and nearly two dozen religious denominations, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom Delay ordered a version of Rep. Walter Jones’s Houses of Worship Political Speech Restoration Act to be buried on page 379 of a 398 page tax bill (H.R. 4520, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004). While it is not the exact language as the Jones bill, it is meant to appease his supporters just in time for the 2004 presidential elections. Ironically, this amendment comes just days after the Bush campaign was widely criticized for using churches in the battleground state of Pennsylvania to organize voters for their election activities.

Entitled the “Safe Harbor for Churches” bill, the legislation would wreak havoc on the integrity of our religious leaders, houses of worship and the political process. The bill encourages willful ignorance of the law by houses of worship, amending the tax code to permit churches, and only churches, to engage in political campaigns while maintaining their status as tax-exempt organizations.

Under the legislation, houses of worship would be allowed to “accidentally” endorse political candidates up to three times in an election cycle without losing their coveted tax-exempt status. While the bill purports to draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations of political activity, it is silent on what constitutes an "unintentional" violation, leaving religious leaders and institutions free to claim ignorance of the law as reasoning for an "unintentional" breach.

It is expected that the House Ways and Means Committee will be voting on the Safe Harbor for Churches provision this Monday! It is imperative that you call your Member of Congress and raise your strong objection to this travesty of justice. Your phone calls will be critical as many Members of Congress are unaware and will be caught off guard about the provision as it was so secretly inserted in the bill during a week of mourning. Please call Congress today.

The switchboard is 202-225-3121. Please stop the Son-of-Jones Bill!

Provision Name: “Safe Harbor for Churches" Section 692

Bill Name: H.R. 4520, “American Jobs Creation Act of 2004”

Message to your Member of Congress: Support the Lewis Amendment in the Ways and Means Committee (John Lewis of GA) that will strike this provision from the overall bill.

For the 'Holier than Thou Christians' approving the slaughtering and torture of tens of thousands of Iraqis.. give them your blessing!

By trying to enlist the Pope to get the Catholic Church to vote for him.

One might ask, we'll, it occurs to me that among the fathers of half of Bush's most dogmatic of followers it was just as good to lynch a Catholic as it was a Black Man. How far we have come.