The Religious Leaders Letter to Obama | National Catholic Reporter

The Religious Leaders Letter to Obama | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB:I am all for religious exemptions that prohibit the state from requiring churches to perform gay marriages.  The Church as minister and the Church as employer are different things, however.  They must behave like other employers and that means offering the same benefits and hiring.  On the Catholic side, it would be pathetic for a Church where half the priests are gay to not hire staff because they are gay as well.  This comes from fear - fear of the hierarchy and fear of less enlighted public opinion.  Indeed, if the Church is serious about employment non-discrimination for non-religious jobs, it must practice it themselves.  Th really sad thing is that this may be Republican coalition politics - which makes a last minute desire for an exemption because everyone else wants one an act of extreme cowardice.  Indeed, unless the Church wants a religious exemption to hiring people in heterosexual civil marriages (which are against are doctrine), it cannot refuse to hire peopel in homosexual civil marriages without being wide open to charges of bigotry and hypocracy. Luckily, the Church may change from the bottom up - because most Church organizations do not care about the orientation of their employees or their marriages and most families will soon demand Church blessing on the marriages of their gay children, siblings and parents.  Unlike contraception, money is involved that the Church will geek.  Hopefully someone in the debate uses some of these points - as they will win the debate.