Remember the debate about JFK's Catholicism: you know, will he listen the Church and thus give the Pope executive influence over the U.S.? As far as we know, the Pope never took the bait. But guess who has?

The Methodist church!

They're practically threatening Bush who, like Clinton, is Methodist with excommunication (I exaggerate slightly, but how else to say it?) unless he tows the "official" church line in his policies. Further, they are attempting to use their position of power in his church to have meetings with him in which to dictate U.S. domestic and foreign policy!

Ah, the vaunted liberal tolerance...

Senior United Methodist officials signed a full-page ad in the April 5 edition of Christian Century magazine. Titled "A Prophetic Epistle from United Methodists Calling Our Brother George W. Bush to Repent," the ad calls for Bush to repent from domestic and foreign policies that are incompatible with the teaching and example of Christ.

These church officials accused Bush of threatening[ing] the very earth and all its inhabitants with open discussion of the use of nuclear weapons. It also accused him of promoting redemptive violence in his policy towards the sovereign nation of Iraq . Additionally it claimed that Bush's domestic policy is "incongruent with Jesus teaching and falls short of the compassion of which Jesus spoke," despite Bush's claim to be a compassionate conservative.

The officials asked Bush to meet with bishops of the United Methodist Church, whom Bush has declined to see as a group. (United Methodist Bishop Joe Pennel of Virginia, more moderate than many of his colleagues, did join other religious leaders in meeting with Bush after September 11, 2001.) "May our call to repentance speak to your conscience," the ad concluded, on a rather sanctimonious note.

With little apparent modesty, the ad alleges that Bush is a bad Christian and a bad Methodist because, like most Methodists, he does not agree with these church officials in their equation of compassion with a large federal welfare state and in their opposition to a strong military defense for the United States.

This despite polls showing the majority of protestants (something like 88%) favored the military action.

Y'know, one minute liberals are assailing GWB because they feel he's trying to institute a theocracy. The next minute, they're assailing him because he won't!