The other edge of the theocratic sword

Normally, it's the evangelicals that can't seem to firewall religion and politics. And their bad habits are rubbing off on a crowd that should definitely know better after a few thousand years of worldly meddling. Ummm...didn't they teach you about Paolo Scarpi in the seminary? I would think that the smackdown that Venice laid on the Pope the last time your crowd tried calling the shots in the world of Mammon would have made an impression? I mean, it's only been 400 years or so, but to people who've been in business since the first century CE, what's a few paltry centuries, really?

Why-oh-why are more people not calling for the churches to be taxed and regulated and financially scrutinized when they meddle in politics? Every other rabble-rouser has to do it--why the free ride here? Oral Roberts University is scrambling to cover its backside so as not to lose its tax-exempt status after their own shenanigans--why not the entire Catholic Church? Like the GOP, they could probably use a scandal that doesn't involve sex for a change. Glass houses, an' all...

But in both cases, arguing with a theocrat will get you about as far as debating a drunk. The self-deception necessary to live in that zone I hope to never understand.