If You Want to Influence Policy, Pay the Entry Fee

All across Missouri last Sunday, Catholics were assailed from the altar by priests in every parrish imploring them to oppose an ammendment to the state constitution that would prohibit placing limits on stem cell research and open the door for further development the nascent and emerging biotech and life sciences fields in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Here is why the Catholic Church is so up-in-arms: Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures is sponsoring a petition drive (they need about 150,000 signatures) to get an initiative on next Novembers ballot that would either adopt or reject an ammendment to the state constitution that would protect all types of stem-cell research in Missouri. Signature collection should start within the next two weeks.

That's Democracy folks, whether the Catholic Church likes it or not. Not everyone is Catholic, not everyone believes life starts at conception, and not everyone believes the Catholic Church has a divine right to meddle in the affairs of the secular world.

Indeed, if the Catholic Church wants to continue to try and influence policy, and politicking from the pulpit, they need to pay the same admission price the rest of us do: They need to pay taxes, or they need to tone it down.