I believe in a whole lotta different things. But it comes down a creative force and a reality of which I can only experience the barest tip. I believe in miracles, magic, saints and sinners. There's power in fire and stone and the divinty that ties us all together. I call myself Catholic because it's easy and people can get keyed in faster to what I'm talking about.

So why do all the major provative subjects come down issues of sex and procreation among religious-types? That's a rhetorical question, BTW. As are many of the questions below.

Ok, granted, by religious-types I mean Christians, but the way they talk about it you would think views of sex is the defining characteristic of the religion. And God help you if you disagree about it but make a point of agreeing with everything else.

It's irritating to me that Sen. Kerry gets in trouble with some bishiops because he hasn't done anything to try to make abortion illegal. Then the media picks that up and non-Catholics are giving me crap because the bishops are telling us Cathoics how to vote. Ok, let's get one thing straight: it has NEVER worked that way. We do have a responsiblity to vote our conscience. This is a truth for ALL citizens. The bishops took care to remind us of this duty, but it is NOT a sin to cast a vote for or against anyone. At least not yet.

It's troubling to me though, that in different media that I've seen good, important issues of a religious or moral nature get brought up they're nearly always in the context of sex and/or abortion (and frankly more often it's abortion). A girl wondered if she was doing something wrong by listening to music by pro-choice artists. The brou-ha-ha over Kerry (which considering how many pro-choice Catholics there are in other parts of the government really makes me wonder about who's pulling whose strings when it comes to castigating Catholics for seeking the presidency; ref. Geraldine Ferraro) is making this a firebrand issue. Someone else posted an entry calling out Catholics to quit calling themselves "Catholic" if they're going to go against some of the Church teachings. While he meant any of the major teachings, he framed it in the context about abortion (which is taught as an aside to the Commandment against murder, not as a basic tenet of Catholicism).

It's so fantastically irritating to essentially be brought back to a junior high school attitude that everytime something has the merest hint of sex and everyone in the room gets a little electrical bolt and we all start twittering like sparrows on the cusp of Spring.

Over and over I've asked why abortion needs to be the supporting basis for debates on morality and Church positions. Over and over I'm assured that it's one of many issues that could support said position. Alright, so why aren't one of the other so-called issues made that basis?

We so love to get up in arms about something likely none of us knows about personally; so few of us have truly gone through the traumatic fear of a life gone totally out of control, but we're all thoroughly ready to stand up and extemporise at length against the everyday evils we perceive. How can we take that and explain that ours is a joyous religion?

How is anyone going to take us seriously when we talk about transmutation, intercession, and the Word of God when we just can't stop talking about sex? There is glory and there is peace and there is justice and all of these are important to Catholics, but who would know it? So often it feels like Catholics forget.

This goes beyond practising what we preach to just preaching what we preach.

Nothing in life is black and white and there are even caveats to murder. And while knowing the rules of a given community is good for the furtherance of order if not peace, it is given to us to find a way to grow closer to the divine. How exactly can we do that when we spend all our time focusing one of life's details in the face of all the Universe?