response 84 of 137:

Feb 24 18:53 UTC 2006

 re #77:  
 >  So how did the Supreme Court come to have a Catholic majority?

 Some commentators have observed that by nominating a Catholic 
 Supreme Court Justice a president who wants to place an abortion
 opponent on the court can short-circuit a fair amount of 
 discussion over the issue during confirmation, as attacking a
 nominee's personal religious beliefs would almost certainly provoke
 a backlash in favor of the nominee.  It's quite possible, therefore,
 that Roberts and Alito were selected (in part) *because* they were
 Catholic, not despite.

 re #75:

 Interestingly, in the last presidential election John Kerry's Catholicism
 was used against him but in an almost diametrically opposite way to the
 way the issue was used when Kennedy ran for office.  By contrast, Kerry's
 problem was being perceived as not Catholic *enough* -- his pro-choice
 stance was highlighted as proof by some that he wasn't "a good Catholic"
 and conservative figures within the Church came out strongly against him,
 with many bishops throughout the country announcing that they would refuse
 him Communion.  His opponents also managed to spread the perception that
 Kerry's religious beliefs are insincere (I've got no idea what the man's
 private beliefs are but I have trouble imagining anyone easier to paint
 as "insincere" on virtually any topic..) and that cost him greatly with
 strongly religious voters.  It was a neat trick for the Bush campaign to
 play, actually, considering that their loudly-proclaimed "born again"
 candidate never attends church services and seems (in my opinion, at least)
 to act frequently in a spirit that's diametrically opposed to the teachings
 of Christ.