The Church stumbles out of - and back into - the Middle Ages

As I've mentioned recently, I'm struggling with matters of faith and the Catholic Church.

I was greatly fortified recently to read that the Church has officially stated that the Bible should not be interpreted literally. (Are you listening, my creationist friends? Genesis is just a nice story, not an accurate account of historic events.) Wow, I thought, who knew? The Church may be modernizing its thinking after all.

Then I read today that the Church is considering to refuse communion to state leaders of countries who condone abortion or gay rights - like Canadian prime minister Paul Martin. Now, I'm far from being a Paul Martin supporter (although I do believe he's better than the alternative), but this to me is an outrageous act of blackmail on the part of the Church. No government leader should be religiously censured for the laws of their country.

Martin's response? "I believe in the Charter of Rights, and I do not believe that the prime minister of the country can cherry pick those rights."

Bravo.