Wild Wild Jim West: The Saga Continues

First of all, the people of Spokane might get stuck with West’s legal bills. That’s a hoot and a half. I hope they march on City Hall with their middle fingers raised high.

Secondly, it’s been announced that West, who you may recall has spent his political career on an anti-gay crusade while simultaneously trying to hook up with gay men on the internet, and allegedly using his office to entice dudes to have sex with him and possibly sexually abusing boys as far back as the ’70s, is still welcome at Spokane’s annual Leadership Prayer Breakfast tomorrow.

"We're all sinners," said [Dale Strom, a member of the executive board of Leadership Northwest, the volunteer group that coordinates the annual breakfast], who also works for the city of Spokane. "Prayer is even more important when you're in trouble."

[…]

In a memo sent to city employees after the newspaper reported the allegations, West asked people to pray on his behalf.

"Since my cancer I've taken to prayer and believe it has healing power," the mayor wrote in a May 5 e-mail. "Please pray for me, the rest of your leaders, the City and our community."

[…]

Organizers of the prayer breakfast hope the event will promote the "message of Jesus Christ" while encouraging "courageous conversations" among those in attendance…

So let me get this straight. Gays, lesbians, and their supporters who wear a rainbow sash are denied communion by the Catholic church, but adulterer and possible child molester Jim West is still welcome at a prayer breakfast. Okay, that makes perfect sense.

I know I’m sort of treating this as if there’s no distinction between the Catholic church and a conglomeration of people from various religions who hold a prayer breakfast, which clearly isn’t the case, but there does seem to be a recurring pattern among the whole of conservative Christianity, wherein men who abuse boys are generally sheltered and coddled, but the LGBT community is generally rebuked and told they’re going to hell. Similarly, those who support legalized abortion are told they are not good Catholics, or good Christians, but those who support the death penalty, or the Iraq War, aren’t questioned at all.

Tell me again why churches ought to be allowed to keep their tax-exempt status, because the inconsistencies regarding exactly whom they choose to reject and for whom they choose to pray seem to get pretty damn consistent when you look at it along party lines.