WaPo's "House Catholic" Calls For Denial of Communion in Arizona

...well, not for all Arizona residents, of course. Only for those state officials who actually obey and enforce the law. For openers, anyway...

Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, who writes a column entitled "On Faith" for the Washington Post, is as much a true interpreter of the Christian teachings as David Weigel was a true "insider" of the conservative movement. Via Red Blooded American Boy, we get his latest pronouncement of idiocy:

“In the face of hideous injustice, words are not enough. Will any of today’s bishops deny communion to Catholic officials who vote for this bill and its spawn of imitators in other states? Has censure been voiced against the local sheriff Joe Arpaio (a Catholic) who has led raids on Latinos?”

Interesting stand, considering the leftist Catholic "scholar" has in the past written that he believes bishops shouldn't’t deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians…

Who else should be denied communion, I wonder? Congressional budget hawks who refuse to fund social welfare programs, and the tea-partiers who support them? Oil company employees? Health insurers? Registered Republicans?

Arroyo is a joke, and I thought this story was when it first came out. But with the David Weigel debacle still unfolding, one starts to wonder who else within the Washington Post has been given a beat not based on a deep understanding of the subject at hand, but based on ideological axes that the paper needs to grind. Hire a hateful liberal to cover conservatives, hire a leftist "scholar" to report on "faith". Is it any surprise both of these columnists show such a visceral disdain and disgust for those whom they are supposed to cover? And in Stevens-Arroyo's case, a complete misunderstanding about the role of the Church in public life?

Arroyo's argument is too dumb to be dissected here. It's just the comparison that is interesting - Weigel wanted conservatives (Drudge) to burn and die, Arroyo wants conservatives to be essentially excommunicated from their faith - a spiritual death, as it were.

Much like the one that the Washington Post is writhing though right now. Even for me, it is a bit hard to watch...