Soliciting the Bishops
Josh Marshall has some cynical theories on the Bush/Cardinal meeting where the President said, "not all the American bishops are with me" on cultural issues and asked the Vatican to nudge the American bishops toward greater 'activisim'. We've heard about denying communion to Kerry because of his pro-choice views. Marshall mentions Karl Rove buddy, Deal Hudson's, dreams of having bishops read letters of condemnation from the pulpit.

In any event, I figure Rob, at the Catholic legal theory blog, has a good point. (though I disagree with his assumption that the most popular outcry will be a church/state issue...rather, I think alot of folks will figure Bush is a dummy/hypocrit.)

The predictable objection to this news will be cries that the line between church and state has been crossed. I don't see much merit to that, as Bush's attempt to enlist the Vatican's faith-based advocacy for his own political purposes does not seem qualitatively different than a President enlisting churches in the civil rights cause, a war against poverty, or the battle against communism. Indeed, the very premise of Charitable Choice legislation is that faith-based action will facilitate the realization of a political agenda. The only difference between those cases and the current controversy is in the perceived nobility of the particular agenda.

President Bush's attempt, however (assuming that it did occur), does seem to implicate the one-dimensional nature of certain bishops' advocacy up to this point. Why should President Bush feel confident that a more outspoken political role for American bishops will help his candidacy?