2008-05-18 Doug Kmiec on 'The Politics of Apostasy'

2008-05-18 Catholic Online Doug Kmiec \Catholicism\Barack Obama\apostasy\2008 US presidential race http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=27956&page=1 Doug Kmiec on 'The Politics of Apostasy' &ldquo;Having been drawn to Senator Obama's remarkable "love thy neighbor" style of campaigning, his express aim to transcend partisan divide, and specifically, his appreciation for faith ("secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square"), I did not expect to be clobbered by co-religionists.&rdquo;  On Easter Sunday, this former constitutional lawyer to Ronald Reagan endorsed Barack Obama for president.

While that turn of mind baffled my political pals, it infuriated some of my fellow Catholics. I very much regret the discomfort it has brought to these life-long friends. ... Having been drawn to Senator Obama's remarkable "love thy neighbor" style of campaigning, his express aim to transcend partisan divide, and specifically, his appreciation for faith ("secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square"), I did not expect to be clobbered by co-religionists.

On the blogs, I have been declared "self-excommunicated," and recently at a Mass before a dinner speech to Catholic business leaders, a very angry college chaplain excoriated my Obama-heresy from the pulpit at length and then denied my receipt of communion.

Commentary:   
 * Dana Hunter