John Nienstedt, the Archbishop who gained infamy for mass-mailing hundreds of thousands of anti-gay marriage DVDs to Minnesota families without their asking or approval, now says the anti-gay marriage ballot initiative for which he’s been leading the charge is “not intended to be hurtful.”
“This is a positive affirmation, not intended to be hurtful or discriminatory to anyone,” Nienstedt, the Catholic Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said Tuesday, flanked by clergy members on the state capitol’s steps. “Our understanding of marriage between a man and a woman predates any government, or in fact, any religious denomination.”
Of course, then, it makes perfect sense to use the law as a weapon against same-sex couples and their children, right?
Minnesota already has a law that bans same-sex marriage, but that’s insufficient for this anti-gay man of God, who is following Pope Benedict XVI’s war on gay marriage edicts.
Nienstedt’s war will write discrimination directly into Minnesota’s constitution, banning permanently same-sex marriage equality. Also, it is the antithesis of religious liberty, as it bans clergy who wish to marry same-sex couples from fulfilling the call of their own faith.
Archbishop Nienstedt displays one of the prime reasons those opposed to the Pope and the Catholic leadership are so outraged: they are selfish, they consider neither the rights nor lives of those who do not choose to follow their faith.
Only their version of Catholicism, or Christianity, may survive — all others be damned.
Minnesota Public Radio notes Nienstedt says said the anti-gay marriage amendment isn’t about forcing religious teachings on non-believers.
Earlier this year, under Nienstedt’s leadership, a Catholic priest who hosted a mandatory assembly told seniors at Minneapolis’ DeLaSalle high school that single parents and children who are adopted are not normal and preached against same-sex marriage, and a Catholic couple who presented with the priest told the students gay marriage was akin to bestiality, all apparently in an effort to influence the seniors — soon to be of legal voting age — to vote for the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment facing Minnesota.