Goldberg and Guthrie

Katherine Lopez of the Corner writes:

Does Sullivan believe that a politician (or anyone, for that matter) can call himself "Catholic" while supporting abortion--and to the extent that he votes against a ban on infanticide (partial-birth abortion)? It seems to me that not only is it not possible to claim to be a faithful Catholic while rejecting what the Catholic Church teaches to be true about abortion, but it compounds the offense to pretend, and thus lead impressionable people inside and outside the church to believe, that it is possible.

By this same logic, I suppose that any politician who would vote against a ban on all pork products cannot call himself "Jewish."

Furthermore, any politician who would vote for the death penalty cannot call himself "Catholic." (Unless, of course, you are Justice Scalia and are permitted to question those pronouncements of the Church that you disagree with.)

On the other hand, it could be that some people have deeply held religious and moral beliefs, but don't agree with forcing them on other people - especially when those beliefs dictate how a person should be allowed to treat their own body.

(FYI - Lopez is referring to this post on Sullivan's site.)

UPDATE: Per Goldberg's advice, I changed "against the penalty" to "for the death penalty", which is what I what I meant.