Priest Says Obama Voters Sinned
Column Alleges 'Yes' Vote Implies Pro-Choice Views
http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/17979262/detail.html?rss=gsaa&psp=newsGREENVILLE -- A bulletin put out by St. Mary’s Catholic Church has people buzzing after a priest wrote that those who voted for Obama had committed a sin.
"Every week, I make a bulletin for the congregation and each week I have a column on the cover of the bulletin about matters of interest to the church intended for the parishioners of St. Mary's," said the Rev. Jay Scott Newman.
Since last Sunday preceded election week, Newman offered a mediation on the issue of abortion.
"Because abortion is by definition murder, there is no way for it to ever be justified," said NewmanThe mediation suggested that anyone who voted for now President-elect Barack Obama committed a sin because of his pro-choice stance.
In the bulletin, Newman wrote that anyone who voted for Obama is in cooperation with intrinsic evil and should not take communion unless they confess their sins.
"If you go that route, it damages your communion with the Catholic Church. For that reason you ought not receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church -- with which you disagree," Newman said.
The bulletin goes on to ask parishioners to pray for Obama and to respect his authority, but on the issue of abortion, Newman said there is no compromise.
"However, on this one point the Catholic Church has to continue to say respectfully but patiently, consistently, persistently 'no,'" said Newman. "No abortion, no time, nowhere, for any reason."
As to whether a "yes" vote for Obama equates to sin, Pastor Curtis Johnson with Valley Brook Baptist Church disagrees.
"I would have to respectfully disagree that a vote for Barack Obama equates to a sin," said Johnson. "I think that no one is pro-abortion. I don't think that Barack Obama is. I don't think that anyone in their right mind would actually desire that abortions continue."
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