Bad Catholic v. Bad Pastor

When people referenced John Kerry's religion, it was in terms of him being a bad Catholic who should be denied a basic sacrament of his religion because of his political positions on a few issues. When people reference Barack Obama's religion, it's in terms of him being forced to stepdown, as anyone who listened to any of his pastor's sermons and didn't walk out is clearly unfit to be president. So while Kerry wasn't religious enough, Obama is too religious in the wrong religion.

Naturally, there is a big difference between Obama's pastor's intolerance and the Catholic Church's intolerance, but all the same, it seems perhaps odd that Kerry's insistence that he was a good Catholic is questioned just as much as Obama's insistence that he doesn't agree with his pastor. Somehow, I suppose it might make a difference that all Catholics are supposed to agree with the Pope's guidelines about everything, while Obama's religion might not require him to agree with his pastor. But I'm not really sure how that fits into the equation.

Overall, it looks like Democrats who want to look more religious can't any more than those who want to distance themselves from their religion can. Almost as if Dems are always labeled as having the worst possible religious positions, while Republicans are rarely questioned about theirs; including our Born Again in Chief, who doesn't even attend religious services and doesn't seem particularly religious. Or like the current Republican nominee, who doesn't seem to know what religion he really is; claiming to be an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist church, while also claiming to be a Baptist. Somehow, religion is only important if you're a Democrat, and always in a negative way. Huh.