Not only does separation of church and state apply to government interference with religion it also applies to religion interfering with the state.

If it was up to the Catholic Bishops they would reinstitute the inquistion like the good old days.

newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/cardinal...

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Edited to provide working link.

Feb 9, 2012 -- 2:33PM, mountain_man wrote:

What many forget is that the current pope was the head of The Inquisition before being promoted. Of course, they changed the name, but it's still the same thing.

If these preachers try to interfere with our government, or laws, and such, they should loose their tax free status. These preachers have no right what so ever to force their beliefs against birth control on those not of their religion - or even of their religion. Instead they need to come to grips with a modern world.

Benedict does not favor separation of church and state and neither does a subset of Curial hierarchs : it is anathema to them.

The current clutch of American bishops for the most part were chosen for their loyalty to papal thinking. So we have Dolan in New York--a disaster. Dolan is St. Louis, a mid-western conservative who seems to think American Catholics by and large give a hoot about what he says. American Catholics overwhelmingly rejected Pail VI's thinking in the encyclical Humanae Vitae two generations ago and many or most are pro-choice for others. Benedict is an anarchronism by choice.

Moderate and liberal Catholics have left the American RCC by the millions because of Rome's heavy hand. Can the bishops create some havoc? Oh yes.

My own Favorite Theologian on Church-State Questions is (the late) John Courtney Murray, S.J. ...

He understood that The Authority of The State and The Authority of The Church are DIFFERENT ...

ONLY The State has "Temporal" Authority, i.e., can collect Taxes, raise an Army, conduct War, pass and enact Laws and Statutes, operate Law Courts, etc., etc. ...

BUT ... Since The Authority of The Church is PURELY "Spiritual" Authority, The Church therefore has Authority that is SUPERIOR to that of The State, such that The Church can COMMAND The State to do ITS Duty ... (A Recent shining Example was St. Archbishop Romero's Sermon -- "In the Name of God I beg of you ...  I COMMAND you: STOP  THE  KILLING ...")

So ... Murray "got it" correctly in my Opinion, in understanding that the proper INTERFACE of Church and State is in the Society ... So clearly, since Bishops, Clergy, and Laity are CITIZENS, the important Distinction is most properly The DISTINCTION of Church and State rather than a supposed "Separation" of Church and State ... 

Feb 9, 2012 -- 5:44PM, teilhard wrote:

My own Favorite Theologian on Church-State Questions is (the late) John Courtney Murray, S.J. ...

He understood that The Authority of The State and The Authority of The Church are DIFFERENT ...

ONLY The State has "Temporal" Authority, i.e., can collect Taxes, raise an Army, conduct War, pass and enact Laws and Statutes, operate Law Courts, etc., etc. ...

BUT ... Since The Authority of The Church is PURELY "Spiritual" Authority, The Church therefore has Authority that is SUPERIOR to that of The State, such that The Church can COMMAND The State to do ITS Duty ... (A Recent shining Example was St. Archbishop Romero's Sermon -- "In the Name of God I beg of you ...  I COMMAND you: STOP  THE  KILLING ...")

The authority of the Church is inferior to that of the state. The state has authority over everybody. The Church has authority only over those who agree to accept it. No Church will ever have authority over me.

Feb 9, 2012 -- 7:01PM, mountain_man wrote:

Feb 9, 2012 -- 5:45PM, jane2 wrote:

In essence many of us have. No money, no attendance. Some polls say that ex-Catholics are the second largest religious group by numbers in the US--behind the Catholics.

While that may be true, the fastest growing group are us non believers.

No problem for me........................