Emma Hiatt wrote a letter in response to my column last week titled, “Alan Keyes, John Kerry, one faith?”. It raises some common objections that I will respond to below.

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EH:
Mr. Baumgardner’s column on Thursday discussed and stressed the importance of a candidate who “embraces Christianity, particularly Catholicism, in it’s entirety, and extends those beliefs to his campaign”. Not everyone WANTS a candidate who will use his or her political power to further his or her own religious values, particularly in their entirety. Some of us still believe in the separation in church and state.

MB:
I want to address the phrase “separation in church and state” as you used it in this context. First, that phrase is not found anywhere in the Constitution, and therefore, we do not have that here in the United States.

What we do have is the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The primary purpose of the First Amendment with regard to religion is twofold:

1. The state cannot establish an official religion, and

2. The state cannot prohibit anyone, including politicians, from exercising their religion.

If the state were to require that all Americans practice Catholicism, that would be the establishment of an official religion, and that would violate the First Amendment. If the state were to begin prosecuting priests and other ministers for preaching against homosexuality, as they have done in Sweden and other nations, that too would violate the First Amendment.

There's no “separation in church and state”, but we do have a First Amendment, and it means what it says.

EH:
Why should I have to live up to another person’s so-called moral standard when I disagree with their morals? I DO support stem-cell research, I DO support same-sex marriage, and I DO support abortion. You could say I “reject the church’s teaching on the more controversial issues”, and you’d be right, but I don’t follow the church.

MB:
OK, you got me on one thing here. I should not have used the phrase "Church's teaching" without better explanation. Same-sex "marriage" (there's no such thing, but that's what homosexual activists want to call it, so I always use quotation marks when I discuss this), euthanasia, human cloning, fetal stem cell research, and abortion are wrong not because the Church says they are wrong, but because they are wrong–a violation of natural law, and this was true even before the Catholic Church existed. The Church and many other faith traditions teach that these things are wrong because they are wrong.

Likewise, the Catholic Church also teaches, for example, that it is wrong to steal and wrong to discriminate based on race. We have laws on the book for both of these things too, yet nobody ever argues that we cannot legislate on these matters because people disagree on morals. Morality is not defined by individual choice or opinions, and even if more than 50% of U.S. citizens do not oppose these five evils (and that is not even the case anymore with abortion), they are still wrong.

EH:
And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. In the future stay away from terms like “unequivocally condemned” when referring to people like me. Thanks!

MB:
These five things I mentioned always have, and always will be wrong, and I will not write otherwise in my future columns. That being said, I am terribly sorry that you think that the Catholic Church "unequivocally condemn[s]" people. They do not. In fact, the Catholic Church strives for the salvation of souls- all souls, and in so doing, they unequivocally condemn these five things and other mortal sins which lead us away from salvation. And all sins, even the worst mortal sins, can be forgiven with a sincere, honest confession and true repentance. Since God and the Church wish for the salvation of all, it's that easy for us. And when we do come back, we are welcomed with open arms. It just breaks my heart to see so many people who want to shoot the messenger rather than accept this invitation back.