Could a bill banning bullying against gays and lesbians lead to same-sex marriage?

Yes, according to two N.C. Roman Catholic bishops who have urged their followers in two mass emails this past week to oppose Senate Bill 526, otherwise known as the School Violence Protection Act, Yonat Shimron reports.

While the two bishops say they oppose bullying period, they cannot support a bill that singles out "gender identity and sexual orientation."

Msgr. Michael Clay, the legislative lobbyist for the Diocese of Raleigh, said three states — Iowa, California and Connecticut — have used similar anti-gay bullying laws as part of their "findings of fact," in building a case for same-sex marriage.

"It could be a precursor of actions by our legislature and/or our courts to mandate same-sex marriage," said Clay. "It's more than speculative. This is a result that happens."

Clay said both Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte believe bullying is wrong and would gladly support a bill without the offending language.

"We're urging people to support the bill and take out the differentiating language," he said.

Other groups, including the Christian Action League and the N.C. Family Policy Council, also oppose the bill, saying it would introduce special legal protections for gays and lesbians.

Update: But not all religious groups agreed with what they said was an exaggerated emphasis on same-sex marriage.

"This is not a theoretical political issue," said the Rev. Jack McKinney, co-pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. "This is about real kids suffering real pain and too many of them hurting themselves. For it to be used as a political football is a tragedy."

Evangelical Christians may not have been natural supporters of John McCain, but the prospect of a Barack Obama presidency is much scarier.

To wit: Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, sent an e-mail to students titled “Why Faithful Evangelicals Cannot Vote for Barack Obama,” reports Yonat Shimron.

The answer, in a word, is abortion.

The e-mail includes an editorial by Princeton University professor Robert P. George which describes Obama as “the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States.”

Evangelicals aren’t the only ones concerned about abortion. North Carolina’s two Roman Catholic bishops sent out a joint e-mail saying much the same thing without citing any candidate by name.

In his preface to the editorial, Akin wrote, "It is incumbent upon every believer... to vote their conscience and to further let their conscience be guided by the Word of God. Nowhere is this more important than in the area of abortion, an issue on which God’s word is abundantly clear.”

Many evangelicals fear an Obama presidency will further forestall the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that made abortion legal.

Read more after the jump.

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North Carolina's two bishops were at the legislature Thursday.

The Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh and Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte came to promote a unified voice on public policy issues from some of the 800,000 Catholics in the state.

"We share the right to add our voice to the public discussion of issues," Burbidge said.

The initiative involves an interactive Web site that sends alerts to Catholics on legislation of concern to the church, including such issues as abortion and stem cell research as well as immigration. 

They also announced that Monsignor Michael Clay, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton, will serve as the first permanent lobbyist for Catholics at the legisltaure.

The dioceses will also send a questionnaire to gubernatorial and Congressional candidates and post the results on the Web site in October. (N&O)

Gov. Mike Easley didn't have many people over for lunch in 2006, but they had him over.

According to his daily schedule, the governor only had one visitor to the Governor's Mansion for lunch: Michael Burbidge on Aug. 2, two days before he was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh.

In addition, Easley met with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — now a Democratic presidential candidate — for breakfast on Feb. 6.

That's not to say that Easley ate alone, however.

On April 24, he attended a presentation and lunch at a Bristol-Meyers Squibb site in Dublin with top company executives and U.S. Ambassador James C. Kenny.

He had another lunch visit the following day at a Wyeth facility in Dublin, and a roundtable lunch on April 27 at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Brussels, Belgium.

And on Nov. 3, he and budget advisor Dan Gerlach had lunch with former school president Father Edward Malloy at DeBartolo Hall during a visit to the University of Notre Dame, shortly before attending a function on values and politics. Gerlach is a Notre Dame alumnus.

That night, he and Gerlach had dinner with former school president Father Theodore Hesburgh at the Morris Inn on campus, and he went to a pre-game brunch the following day.

Hat Tip: Andy Curliss 

Two North Carolina bishops oppose state funding of stem cell research.

Roman Catholic Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the diocese of Raleigh has written a letter to members of the N.C. House Committee on Science and Technology opposing the draft of a bill in the General Assembly that would publicly fund embyronic stem cell research, Yonat Shimron reports.

The letter, which he co-signed with Bishop Peter J. Jugis of the diocese of Charlotte, reiterates the Catholic teaching that embryos constitute human life.

Bishops Burbidge and Jugis said they supported adult and umbilical cord blood stem cell research.

"We stand ready to mobilize these citizens and their like-minded supporters of other beliefs and traditions to contact their legislators opposing this bill should it advance beyond the House Committee on Science and Technology," the two bishops wrote.

North Carolina's Catholic bishops are against a bill to change sex ed.

In a letter to House Speaker Joe Hackney, Most Rev. Michael Burbidge of Raleigh and Most Rev. Peter Jugis of Charlotte say they share "grave concern" about the changes:

"We wish to go on record strongly opposing this bill and want you to know that we will do everything in our power to activate the Roman Catholics of our State to lobby their legislators to oppose the passage of this bill. This is not an action we would take lightly."

The bill would change a state law to base abstinence education on health, not morals. It would also exert more state control over local sex ed curricula.