Catholic Church declaring full scale WAR on marriage equality

 As we wait on the marriage equality vote in New York, we remember the words of MLK - "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."

I'm all for that, but why does it have to take doggone long!

One thing missing from the fight over marriage equality in New York is the how the New York State Catholic Conference feels about the negotiations going on about religious exemptions. According to the New York Daily News, they have not seen the language of the bill and are being left out of negotiations.

Naturally they aren't happy over it:

"Obviously, this is an issue of grave import to the Catholic Church," said Catholic Conference spokesman Dennis Poust. "Were this bill to pass, we would need protection in order to continue our ministries. We raised the issue, and now it seems like we've been cut out of the loop."

With all due respect to the NY State Catholic Conference, they shouldn't be involved because they don't like marriage equality in the first place. Any move they make would most likely be to sabotage negotiations.

Meanwhile, according to Andy Birkey of The Colorado Independent, regardless of what happens in New York, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are preparing to hit against marriage equality with huge amount of its resources:

Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of the Subcommittee for the Defense of Marriage said the Roman Catholic church would push back in the war of “language,” which he said same-sex marriage proponents were winning with words like “hate” and “equality.” The church is planning a video campaign in both English and Spanish, and its efforts have already been felt in states like Minnesota where the church was successful in getting an anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot.

“Strategies of language are crucial here, and what we see happening in the marriage debate with terms such as ‘equality’ is similar to the manipulation of language found in the pro-abortion rhetoric of ‘choice,’” Bishop Cordileone said at the Bellvue, Wash., conference.

Cordileone, who was appointed to the Subcommittee for the Defense of Marriage in January, says the church plans to increase production of a series of videos intended to change Catholics’ minds on same-sex marriage.

“To be considered and labeled a ‘bigot’ or ‘discriminator’ by the government and by law has serious implications for the religious liberty of both institutions and individuals and their freedom of conscience,” he said. “The video will seek to demythologize popular claims and call attention to what is really at stake.”

That video, “Made for Freedom,” is part of a five-part video project by the church. The first is “Marriage: Unique for a Reason,” which was produced last fall. Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis used that video in an anti–gay marriage DVD package that was sent to 800,000 Minnesota Catholics just before the 2010 election.

The Colorado Independent said that "elements" of this video has already appeared in Minnesota:

Pastor Sergio Choy of Ministerio Evangelistico Mundial Maranatha in Bloomington testified at the House Rules Committee. He said, “To redefine marriage is like trying to redefine water. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, and marriage is made up of one man and one woman.”

That line is very similar to the DVD created by the Catholic Church. In it, a husband said that the marriage of a man and a woman is like water, “two completely different things, like hydrogen and oxygen, and combining them to make water, something entirely new, unique.”

This is a dangerous new development - not for the lgbtq community, but to the Catholic Church. There are already rumors as to just how deeply is the Catholic Church involved in the efforts of the anti-gay group,  the National Organization for Marriage, and whether this involvement is the reason as to why NOM fights so hard to keep from disclosing its funding sources.

The Catholic Church is playing fire by courting potentially devastating publicity. Does it really want to be seen as a less of a body of Christ and more of an ominous force out to deprive millions of families of their rights and protections as Americans?