DC: Catholic Church Threatens to Withdraw Social Services if Gay Marriage Bill Passed

In a surprisingly bold and seemingly unbiblical move, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is threatening to discontinue its social support for nearly 70,000 people -- including a third of Washington's homeless -- because of its opposition to a proposed same-sex marriage bill. Under the proposed bill, according to a story by Post reporters Tim Craig and Michelle Boorstein, religious organizations would not be required to perform same-sex weddings, "but they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians." Apparently, the archdiocese is concerned that it could be forced, for example, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, open adoptions to same-sex couples, or rent a church hall to gay and lesbian groups. "If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. "The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem." Full Story from the Washington Post: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2009/11/the_archdioceses_ultimatum.html

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