That kid should have stayed away from Catholic ceremonies. Catholics have been pretty clear about who is invited to participate in their rituals, and for him to intrude under false pretenses was disrespectful of the people involved. I don’t think that he stole the wafer but he did obtain it by misrepresenting himself.

Was he not Catholic? I thought that he was.

I don't think The Church accused him of a hate crime though, did they? I think it was just The Catholic League.

Now all Myers needs to do is get the Church of Satan to transubstantiate some Cheese Whiz into the Body of Satan....

I thought Cheese Whiz was already the Body of Satan.

Well, He does always forget the baking soda.

God told him to. It's unleavened bread, except when, as was also true at the church I went to in south Georgia, the host is cubes of Wonderbread.

Oyster crackers for us.

God told him to. It's unleavened bread, except when, as was also true at the church I went to in south Georgia, the host is cubes of Wonderbread.

was it a catholic church? I'm baptist, and we believe that any bread will do as long as its properly consecrated. Of course we also stay in our seats and don't care if you're peckish, not baptist.

IOMostlyUnrelatedN, The White House is Cursed!

For instance, I believe there presently is a divine curse on the White House. Why? Because President George W. Bush placed the Koran in that house's library. The occasion was a much-celebrated Ramadan dinner where both Muslim males and females were guests.

With much fanfare Mr. Bush announced his placing the Koran in the White House library.

Taking biblical data into consideration, one can conclude that God was very angry at that move. I believe He has brought a curse the White House because of placing the Koran alongside the Bible in the White House library. God cannot tolerate those who place other gods alongside Him.

Even if it was (which I am by no means conceding), it was not a hate crime, because, in order to be such, the crime (usually one of violence or implied violence) must be motivated by a negative feeling or bias against the church. In this case, a non-Catholic friend wondered what a wafer looked like.

And again, this is what make the whole concept difficult for me. You seem to be saying that if this same act (taking the wafer) was motivated because the guy hated the Church it should be treated differently. Personally, as a juror, I don't want to have to make those distinctions based on what may or may not have been in someone's mind.

To go back to Trudy's example, if you stab someone in an argument, maybe you have been thinking about it for weeks, maybe it was partly because they were gay, black, etc., I really can't know.

If you want to make burning a cross a specific crime with a specific punishment (for historical reasons, as representing a threat, whatever), I don't have a problem with that.

God cannot tolerate those who place other gods alongside Him.

Dumbass, read your bible. It's "Thou shalt have no other gods before me", not alongside or behind

I don't think The Church accused him of a hate crime though, did they? I think it was just The Catholic League.

I just did a quick jump through Google, and so far (I haven't checked past the first page of two different searches) it looks like the only person bloviating about hate crime is Donohue, who is so very epically not The Church.

Of course we also stay in our seats and don't care if you're peckish, not baptist.

My Presbyterian experience matches yours. I loved those little baby shot glasses. And the fact that my teenage self and siblings would take the wine and throw it back like a shot when we thought we could get away with it was certainly also disrespectful. So?