Foolables at the NCR have Advice for the European Catholics

"Don't get all Christian Coalitionish on us, now." Catholic World News has the story here. Their proposal, if you could call it that, runs something like this:

There are worrying elements to this European Catholic reawakening, if that's what it is, that need to be addressed before they become irreversible. American Catholics may be forgiven the presumption of offering advice, because in some ways, we've seen it all before. Most important, it would be a serious mistake for European Catholic activists to mimic the rise of the "religious right" in the United States, which essentially wedded the "religious vote" to the Republican Party. The result is that "faith and values" as a political force in the United States has come to be tightly identified with conservative positions on a handful of hot-button cultural issues -- especially abortion, homosexuality and stem cell research. The result has been "religion" fit for bumper sticker declarations and TV sound bites.

Yeah, nothing like a little nuance on issues. Like stabbing a partially born baby's skull with a pair of scissors and vacuuming his or her brains out. Let's not get too cut and dry with complex events like this. Next thing you know, people might question the wisdom of an economic plan that includes 55% or higher taxes, double-digit unemployment and falling GDPs. The EU's economy teters on the edge of bankruptsy while Foolables at the National CINO Rhetoritician sceam "don't give up a thing! You're already heaven on Earth! WE NEED YOU!"

Diogenes sees a wee bit of a problem with their approach:

Now of course the NCR crowd is opposed to this "wedding" not because it might fail but because it might succeed. Having done their level best to torpedo Catholic doctrine on abortion, homosexuality, and stem cell research on the home front, they're attempting to feign solicitude for those Europeans who are taking their first tentative steps at fighting secularism and restoring a social order in conformity to Church teaching. And after all, the more secular/atheist the European state -- think Sweden, Holland, France -- the more complete its implementation of what the NCR means by social justice. Small wonder then, that the counsel they offer our transatlantic cousins would, if accepted, make their Catholicism politically toothless and inert. Freshen-up that Koolaid, senorita?

Yes, and be sure to add that Statist sweetner. It always helps take away that bitter aftertaset of cognitive dissonence. I wonder if these Foolables even realize the 1960s are over. Or are they still spinning tye-dies in the press room?