Article VI Blog

What would they do?…

Regular reader William L. Knecht points to a First Things piece that begins:

The word competence has several meanings, most of which congregate around ability and authority. It is not clear which meaning is pertinent to the announcement that the national bishops conference will be meeting with congressional Democrats who are Catholics in order to devise a way to withdraw troops from Iraq in what is described as a “responsible transition.”

and wonders:

What would they say if the Q12 [Ed. note: Quorum of 12 - second highest ruling body in the LDS church] called a conference of all the members of Congress who are LDS members of record to tell them what to do.  About anything?

It is an interesting question, but the situations are not entirely analogous.  The Q12 is a ruling body of the LDS church, while the national bishops conference, though composed of rulers in the Roman Catholic Church, has no ecceseastical authority in the church.  Therefore in this case church authority is not implicated in political action.  This is not that different than James Dobson meeting with a congressional delegation.

William does have a heck of a point, however:  In the current hyper-sensitive climate regarding all things Mormon it is unlikely a meeting of the type he suggests would slip under the press radar.  Well, unless, of course, you are a Democrat.  Yes folks, there is a Mormon Democratic Congressional Caucus, but I could find no reference to a similar such caucus amongst Republicans.  Hmmm . . . .

Lowell:  Who knew?

Is the ballon deflating?

"People don't care where you go to church, they care how you will lead," the former Massachusetts governor said, noting that more than 50 percent of the population in Massachusetts is Roman Catholic

If that is the case, Governor, is a speech really needed?  What is really fascinating though is that religion is the only thing this very brief snippet on Romney's recent visit to Virginia has to say.  The reason for Romney's visit to the state is an aside in the piece.

After all, not all creedal Christian or even Evangelicals are running behind Thompson.  Some seem to really like Romney.

Finally…

I certainly seem to have amused Jim Geraghty.   That's a little "quirky" in my book.

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