Stay in Your Own Lane, Please

So the other day I caught a video clip of Stephen Colbert interviewing that idiot Jimmy Carter, who has been out of office long enough for most people to forget how truly awful he was as President. I think the Democrats rehabilitated him around the year 2000 after not inviting him to their conventions for a couple of decades.

Colbert was playing the clueless conservative role that is his trademark and Jimmy was hawking his new book with some catch all title with "Religion, Women and Violence" in the title. And Carter can't resist trashing the Catholic church and commenting that he would consider converting to Catholicism if only he could do so with a married female priest, or something like that. And last year a good friend of mine who happens to be Episcopalian, was  posting all these fawning comments about the then new Pope Francis, saying how much she really liked what she perceived as liberal comments about the direction he might take the church (fact is she was reading tea leaves, and had it wrong.) But it occurred to me that I would never in a million years consider weighing in on which tenets or practices of which I approve or disapprove within the Baptist or Episcopalian churches. I just wouldn't. So why do they feel the need (or license) to do so concerning Catholics? I can't imagine a more inappropriate place to wade into. Jimmy carter would never become Catholic no matter who was converting him and it's ridiculous to say otherwise. What, he thinks so little of his Baptist faith that he's throw it under the bus for a chance to become Catholic? And my Episcopalian friend is ecstatic that her church has openly gay priests. But she'd go Catholic for Francis? Not. But why should they care at all what Catholics do? I do not get it. Maybe I should tell my friend that I'd consider becoming Episcopalian if only they'd stop letting their priests marry and throw out the female ones.