Happy Easter, but don't let your priest or preacher tell you how to vote

It's not easy being a Catholic candidate for president – as John Kennedy discovered in 1960 and John Kerry, in 2004.

Kerry faces the same level of intolerance Kennedy once did. But there's a big difference. Kennedy had to overcome the intolerance of American voters toward a Catholic candidate. Kerry has to overcome the intolerance of Catholic bishops toward a candidate who doesn't follow every teaching of the Church.

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In a way, it's the reverse of 1960. Back then, many Americans told Kennedy: We're afraid you will take orders from the pope, once you get to the White House. This year, some Catholic bishops have already told Kerry: We're afraid you won't take orders from the pope, once you get to the White House, on one single issue – abortion.

Kerry's Easter gift came in the form of a warning by Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley that he and other pro-choice Catholic politicians are in a state of grave sin and will be refused communion when they show up for mass. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke also decreed that Mr. Kerry "must not present himself for communion" at any church in his city. And both have suggested that Catholics should vote against any politician who does not agree with the pope on abortion.

The bishops are wrong on both accounts. First, for limiting their holy outrage to one issue. Why do church leaders only go bananas over the issue of abortion?

The Catholic Church also opposes the death penalty, and the pope opposed the war in Iraq. Yet there are no threats against politicians who endorse capital punishment or supported the invasion of Iraq. And what about tax cuts? Would Jesus cut services to the poor in order to give big tax cuts to the rich? Clearly not. But Catholic bishops don't hyperventilate about the death penalty, war or tax cuts. They only raise hell about abortion. Which is not the only, nor the most important, issue – even for Catholics.

The truth is, good Catholics disagree on choice. Many oppose, others openly support. There's even an organization called Catholics for Choice. Vatican II, in fact, recognized what it called "freedom of conscience" among Catholics.

As a result, in politics and real life, there are Catholics on both sides of the abortion issue, as well as many other issues: the death penalty, the use of nuclear weapons, contraception or the insertion of feeding tubes in dying patients – which the pope just called a moral imperative. Like millions of other Catholics, John Kerry can be pro-choice and still be a practicing Catholic.

But the bishops are wrong, also, for telling Catholics to vote against John Kerry. And I'd say the same thing if they were telling people to vote against George W. Bush. It's none of their damned business. Sure, bishops are free to express their own views. But for any religious leader – priest, rabbi, preacher or mullah – to tell his followers how to vote is an outrageous violation of the separation of church and state.

Isn't it strange? The greatest threat facing America today is the extremism found in Iran, Saudi Arabia, among radical Shiites in Iraq and al-Qaida terrorists – where religious leaders dictate political choices and the unquestioning masses follow. Yet some are trying to introduce that same brand of radical religious politics right here.

We live in two different realms. Sometimes, they overlap, but not always. As believers, we are Catholic, Jew, Muslim or Protestant first, and American second. But as citizens, we are Americans first, and Catholics or whatever else second. In church, we embrace the Bible. In politics, we uphold the Constitution. We vote for the person who will best defend the Constitution, not the one who will best deliver the Bible. And the last thing we want as a national leader is someone who takes his orders from Rome.

John Kerry correctly points out that, as an elected politician, his loyalty is to the people, not the pope. Otherwise, no Catholic could ever run for public office. "I'm not a church spokesman," he reminded his clerical critics. "I'm a legislator running for president. My oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States in my public life."

We respect and admire our church leaders. But they should stick to religion – and stop interfering in politics. Amen.