a former altar boy to the national press corps regarding that “devout” Catholic, Rick Santorum

[wickerwoman]

32. To be fair,

and as a fellow atheist, I think devout means enthusiatic... about the teachings and practices of a particular religion.

You can't be a devout Muslim and also drink and eat pork and never pray.

And you can't be a devout Catholic and just not give a shit about the poor. Hell, after the fifteen or sixteen kids you have proving you are a devout Catholic, the odds are pretty strong that you *are* the poor.

I have no use for their stance on birth control, abortion, homosexuality, or a raft of other things but I have huge respect for the Catholic priests involved in the early labor movement and the tens of thousands of priests and nuns who work in charitable organisations in deprived neighborhoods. It clearly is one of the central tenets of the religion.