fi catholic church. and so i think when they look to him, a lot of them don't see themselves in him. and a lot of people actually don't even know that he's catholic. most people assume he's an evangelical. >> and he also generated controversy when he criticized john f. kennedy's speech where he talked about the separation of church and state and santorum was very critical of that. he said that speech shows a philosophy that wants to keep religion out the public square. he wants to have more religion in the public square of all stripes, he says. and that also affected perhaps some of the catholic views of him. >> right, again, you know, there are rick santorum catholics and john f. kennedy catholics and i think most catholics, when they look at the two, they sort of identify with john f. kennedy. they are fine with the separation of church and state. they actually think it's a good thing. rick santorum thinks it's kind of a bad thing. but, what you see, i think, is rick santorum, in a lot of ways, is the

so will the big easy catholics vote catholic?s upon what you think voting catholic is. it does not mean supporting the catholic candidate. in the primaries so far, catholic candidates newt gingrich and rick santorum have been losing the catholic vote to the mormon opponent. santorum performs well with the evangelicals, but romney has enjoyed a generous lead with the republican catholics. through illinois, romney has had a 15-point lead with catholics over santorum, and in the last primary contest, ron paul beat santorum among catholics, so is there a catholic bump to be had in louisiana for the front runner? we will see tonight. join meg to talk cajun politics is buddy roamer who is now an americans elect and reform party candidate who is in san francisco today. and here at the table is matthew taylor who is a professor of political science and louisiana native. i want to start with you, buddy, because in part the election is in our home state to i daday an want to ask you how you see the louisiana primary playing out? >> i was i

so jews respect catholics and catholics respect jews, for example. >> yeah. because if you asked me, i wouldn't necessarily say mormons are popular or that they make me feel good, but i would say i very much respect -- >> you respect them. right. >> so would you give them a high score on that 0-100 scale? >> yeah, very high. >> and do you know a mormon personally? >> several. >> ah, there you go. thank you very much, folks. [laughter] >> i mean, but in passing, you know, not -- never to sit down and discuss religion. and i've been to the salt lake city. but, you know, like you said, it's a strange world if you're not acquainted. i've read some of their pamphlets and this and this and this. fine. it's fine. you know, non-catholics have a hard time with catholicism. >> right. and the point i'm trying to make is that in 1960 there were a lot of americans who had never had any personal exposure to catholics. it was a very different world, right? catholics went to different schools, they lived in different neighborhoods, and many protestants simply didn't know a c

. >> well, this is actually a new question for catholics in some ways. because catholics are used to having a morality that pretty much everybody accepts. we used to call it natural law it was a common morality accessible to everyone. but now we're in a context where it's very clear, not everybody accepts catholic teaching on contraception, homosexuality, on the one hand or even the death penalty on the other hand. so what we're trying to do, i think, as a church, as a whole is to figure out how to be true to our own commitments on the one hand, but also respect other people in the broader society, and other people who work in catholic institutions who aren't catholic. >> where would these decisions come down from for this. because they seem to break along cultural lines. >> yeah. >> jon: so streakly. this contraception issue, how would that, so the catholic hospital here, the health insurance is change, we have to cover women's preventive health care, contraception. who do they call, do you call, you know, pope -- >> it is not the backbone to the pope.

as we said the influx of roman catholics had spawned anti-catholic nativists, so-called no-nothing lodges, how they're given that name, right. their secret. so when you're asked to talk about this group you belong to you're supposed to say i know nothing, right? so the name sort of stuck. nativists came from lower middle class backgrounds and they feared both the political and economic consequences of the arrival of thousands especially, thousands of immigrations, especially catholics through the democratic party nativists believed that the catholics could secretly control the government. and they talked about catholics being loyal to a foreign power, to foreign potentate in the form of the pope. thousands of immigrants, the nativists lower wages for workers in the cities and push native-born americans into what one editor called, one navivist newspaper editor called, pushing us into the western wilds. so the political side of the issue here was probably the strongest for the nativists, that is, they were convinced that catholics had an inordinate influence within the national government,

well, as we said, the influx of roman catholic immigrants had helped spawn groups of anti-catholic natives. they were organized first into secret fraternal organizations, so-called no nothing lodges. they're given that name. they're secret fraternal organizations so when you're asked to talk about this group that you belong to, you're supposed to say, well, i know nothing, right? and so the name sort of stuck. nativists came from lower middle class backgrounds and they feared both the political and economic consequences of the arrival of thousands of immigrants, especially catholics, through the democratic party native vices believed that the catholics could secretly control the government. and they talked about catholics being loyal to a foreign power, to a foreign pope. plus thousands of immigrants would also argue the nativists lower the wages of workers in the cities and push native born americans into what one editor called -- one nativist newspaper editor called pushing us into the western wild. so the political side of the issue here was probably the strongest for the nativists. tha

so people very culturally catholic. just the stuff in the middle they're out of the habit of participating in. >> how are they opening the visit of pope benedict will affected their lives and maybe provide for space and more openness? >> when pope john paul ii visit in the 1998, that led to new openness for the church. to them being, the church being able to have outdoor celebrations for easter and so on. and it led to release of political prisoners and all sorts of other types of openness. and people have great hopes that will happen again. that this will help prod in a in a variety of ways. >> if a cuba an catholic wants to participate openly in the church, and not hiding anything, is that person free to do so? or are they persecuted in some even informal way if they're religious? >> i don't have the impression that that, that there is ongoing persecution of people who just participate in the church. we did hear stories of people who very recently, for instance, a university professor lost the job after being on the b

of the united states are catholics, okay and the catholic church through them, you bet, wants to have a say in the direction of our beloved country. to think that there is a berlin wall between one's religious convictions and one's political activity is crazy, it's not and noncatholic, nonchristian, nonbibliccal, it is also unamerican. you know that every great movement in american history has been driven by people of religious conviction and if we duct tape the churches i'm just not talking about the catholic church. if we duct tape the role of religion and churches and morally convince people in the marketplace that is going to lead to a huge deficit a huge void and there are many people who want to fill it up, namely a new religion called secularism which would consider itself as infallible as they caricature the other religions doing. to see that morally driven people want to exercise their political responsibility i think that is not only the heart of biblical religion, it is at the heart of american enterprise. >> bill: you said the religion of secularism. all right. basically t

of the united states are catholics, okay and the catholic church through them, you bet, wants to have a say in the direction of our beloved country. to think that there is a berlin wall between one's religious convictions and one's political activity is crazy, it's not and noncatholic, nonchristian, nonbibliccal, it is also unamerican. you know that every great movement in american history has been driven by people of religious conviction and if we duct tape the churches i'm just not talking about the catholic church. if we duct tape the role of religion and churches and morally convince people in the marketplace that is going to lead to a huge deficit a huge void and there are many people who want to fill it up, namely a new religion called secularism which would consider itself as infallible as they caricature the other religions doing. to see that morally driven people want to exercise their political responsibility i think that is not only the heart of biblical religion, it is at the heart of american enterprise. >> bill: you said the religion of secularism. all right. basically t

i happen to be roman catholic. i'm a converted catholic. so i'm interested in conversion and conversion as an aspect of religious freedom. but my own sort of personal blueprint is what i consider a magnificent document called the declaration of religious freedom which came out of the second vatican council in the catholic church. i wasn't a catholic at the time. but i had become an aficionado and devoted to this, to the dignity of the human person. that is a lot if not all that needs to be said about religious freedom. human beings want to know the answer. so it is a religious thing for me. and of course, as a catholic, i invite all people to be catholics but this is not about that. it's about human beings. it's not about the catholic church or any other church. it's about a religious understanding of what human beings are, and if they don't have religious freedom, they can't really have religious life, and that's why societies don't get it tent -- tend to be up stable. we have problems in our own country but we're a long way from the terri

and the catholic left. five times a month have you written to your bishops asked for a meeting? had you called? in 1986 out of nowhere three san franciscans -- franciscans show of from italy to give reagan the bread of life. reagan goes from one meeting to another and with than one month every franciscan newspaper has a pitcher of reagan with these men. try that with the obama white house. try that with the religious leaders. we have to do much better job on the left reaching out to to develop a friendship. make them aware of your concerns. white house. try that with the religious leaders. we have to do much better job on the left reaching out to to develop a friendship. make them aware of your concerns. to say a and a stand recover from. and they overreacted. they started to overplayed their hand. he can backpedal faster and the column was great today. i hope you all read it. this issue is not about religious liberty but now contraception and how women are treated. going forward they don't have the power t

could you comment on your perspective of catholics how you feel about what is happening within the catholic bishops and the catholic church and are they becoming just another arm of the republican party? >> a timely and very franciscan question. i'm in the two hands in the back. >> hi, just two quick questions. what was falwell's relationship with really gramlich? did he learn from anything and did he have any relationship with franklin? and also, how much impact of the goldwater campaign half on the yoking of fiscal conservatism, social conservatives and in rebounding to ideology you thought in the 64 campaign. >> great question as well. spinet james university of maryland. as a similar question to that branching off of the goldwater theme. you mentioned the undead sort of white hegemony in the south has played a role in the sort of shift in southern politics. but i know that a lot of things they organized in the 70s, sort of the christian right, l. gpt rice, for example, the era would very much about the masculine, domination masculinity and i wonder if he could speak to that pension and

sabbatical american catholics have been sort of increasingly liberal in ways that catholics in other countries haven't known have been increasingly leaving the church and you see this sort of ad campaign that they're running the states come back and they're telling catholics like me who left the church years ago to come back to the. the church at the same time they're pursuing these super conservative methods messages on everything from birth control to apportion and they're leaving aside these sort of social justice messages leaving aside their you know opposition the death penalty it makes it very difficult for those two things to play but that's me like you said there have been some people there sort of a war within the catholic church i've heard from probably plenty of jesuit priests who think that some some of this language has gone too far i do appreciate you weighing in as always megan carpenter here executive editor for raw story we also want to show you this you may have seen this floating around the into words today kind of sums it all up take a look at this picture. all ri

you're a catholic woman. what is the divide in this in the catholic church? how do you view in this your faith compared to the way they are interpreting it in terms of how it pertains to their faith? >> this is a woman's issue. i don't know who the people you spoke to but i know the record shows that 90% of catholic women of child bearing age use birth control. so this is a woman's health issue. it's a matter of conscience for each woman. her doctor, her husband, her family and her god to make their own decisions and as a catholic i support the right of a woman to make that decision. this is about women's health those. talked about mammograms and cervical and ovaryi0varian canc screening. so birth control is not just about reproduction it's all in the larger sense about a fuller picture of women's health. >> the comments of the democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi. again as the debate continued here in washington, the headline, the senate failing to approve an amendment put forth by senator roy blunt and just one other note about rush limbaugh for usi

the church rejects sterilization, abortion and contraception, the federal policy will apply to catholic hospitals and institutions as well. 180 catholic bishops across america wrote an open letter in protest to president obama's federal mandate. they say that it violates religious believes and is country to the very core of the church's principals. >> his administration is issuing a mandate that catholic institutions provide coverage for either prescriptions or procedures which might directly attack the sanctity of life. it's unacceptable to us. >> reporter: santorum a devout catholic has consistently demonstrated his pro-life position throughout his political career. a long time anti-abortion activist, he championed the ban on partial birth abortion during his time in the u.s. senate. santorum now says that obama is waging a war against religious liberty. >> they're going to force people of faith to adopt their secular values. never before in the history of this country have we seen anything like this. >> reporter: and santorum's message is resonating with social conservatives. this mo

catholic university, catholic institutioning? it doesn't go to an insurance company to buy slirns. it's self-insured. so that word game doesn't even work on the surface there. and those cases number in the hundreds or thousands around the country. and that is a clear example of how that so-called compromise or accommodation is merely a slight of hand and a word game. another argument which the other side has made in this debate, mr. president, is that somehow correcting this situation through the blunt amendment or through similar measures will shut down access to these services. that's just patently not true. these services, these medicines and other treatments are widely available in every community across the country at little cost or no cost for folks who can't afford it. and that's not going to change. it's absolutely not necessary to tear away religious liberty, violate conscience rights of millions of americans with that argument in mind, just isn't true. that's why, mr. president, respected religious leaders like cardinal designate timothy know land, president of the u.s. c

the federal policy will apply to catholic hospitals and institutions as well. 180 catholic bishops acrossmerica wrote an open letter in protest to president obama's federal mandate. they say that it violates religious beliefs and is contrary to the core of the church's principles. >> his administration is issuing a mandate that catholic institutions provide coverage for either prescriptions or procedures which might directly attack the sanctity of lif you know, it's unacceptable to us. >> reporter: santorum, a devout catholic, has consistently demonstrated his pro-life position throughout his political career. a long-time anti-abortion activist, he championed the ban on partial birth abortion during his time in the u.s. senate. santorum now says that obama is waging a war against religious liberty. >> they are also going to force people of faith to adopt their secular values. never before in the history of this country have we seen anything like this. >> santorum's message is resonating with social conservatives. gordon eder, a catholic resident of tennessee, recently joined in on a praye

and so i think as he's trying to isolate catholics and make this about contraception and catholics, i think he has galvanized a lot of people. the bishops are not backing down. you saw the cardinal of new york, the highest-ranking catholic prelate, come out and pretty much put it to the president yesterday on national television, and there's a lot of catholics like me who are willing to get behind him and fight for this. alisyn: and, kirsten, how do you think this plays out in november? >> i think it's hard to tell. a lot of the polling that's been done, they can't find a clear correlation in either direction. now, democrats will tell you this helps them because it energizes women, single women in particular who they thought were going to today home. so it's not so much of that poller thes aren't necessarily seeing -- pollsters aren't necessarily seeing someone say i'm going to switch my vote, it's more about energizing the base. can the catholic question do the same thing with their voters, is it something that's going to energize them, and i don't know the answer to that. alisyn: ki

i happen to be a roman catholic. i'm a convert of catholicism in conversion and prosperous asian and conversion, but my own blueprint is what i considered a which cannot of the second council and the catholic church was in the catholic that time, but as a comment a vision of our and devoted to the lightning freeze for the title was different which means the dignity of the human person, that is a lot if not what needs to be said about religious freedom, human beings by the nature want to know the answer to the questions, so it is a religious thing for me but it isn't -- of course as a catholic she invited me to get all. but it's about human beings. it's not about the catholic church or any other church. it removes the understanding of what human beings actually are, and if they don't have religious freedom, they delivered human rights and that's why society still don't get dÉtente to be free of the unstable. >> hours developing our recent years. a long way from that terrific problems which you see in killed are litera

georgetown, this is a catholic institution, boston college and whole away of catholic universities.ou know what birth control coverage was so important to misfluke, she didn't have to go there. if she wants to have birth control covered, ask her male partner, pick up a pack of condoms. sean, here is the point. where is it in this country where we talk about self-control and personal responsibility. that is completely away from the whole conversation. >> personal responsibility is choosing. >> sean: stop. having other people pay for it. if you want to engage -- let me finish -- if you want to engage in that behavior, why do you expect, out dated in your mind but a lot of people have religious convictions they don't believe people should live. if you want to live whatever lifestyle you want. i'm about freedom. i don't want to on impose values on anybody, but i don't think other people should pay for other people's behavior. >> 80% of christian college students reported being in sexual activity. >> sean: according to who? >> but you always attack my sources. >> sean: who is your source

church defenders say these cases don't reflect today's catholic church. the caaholic church to my knowledge has the most extensive, comppehensive program dealing with people who are going to work there n thh cctholii church or are working in the catholic church victim advocates insist the church still has problems."we still haven't seen one bishop to be fired or publically punished for enabllng or covvring up for a ssxual predator priest.""as many days as i can i am going to be theree" rich green plans on &pattending lynn's trial. as a philadelphia, green--the john o'connor of new york-- - sayy he wasssexually abused repeatedly by his religion teacher -- a priest who's ow catholic church last year...buttstill feels bittee. "worse than the abuse iiself to know that sommbody could have stepped in and stopped it."a courttimposee gag order prevents the parties from commenting. but when the philadelphia's da--made a point of saying that as a the instiiution. "this is about evil men being held accountable for doinn despicable acts."key to the of the alleged vic

not much of the population is catholic all. >> that is right, only 10%. cuba was declared in a the state in 1956. there's the strange phenomenon in cuba. some elements of catholicism, but to show it -- particularly the devotion to mary the mother of jesus, is particularly strong. fidel castro's mother donated a gilt statue to the shrine of our lady of charity at the end of the war as thanks for protecting her son during the atheist revolution. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> alright. he has directed some of the most successful movies of all time, including "titanic" and "avatar." now he is the first person to dive solo to the deepest part of the ocean. >> he spent more than three hours down there. and of course, he caught it all on tape. >> all right, buddy. >> this was the most dangerous trip james cameron has ever made. he went to the deepest part on earth, the marianna trench in the pacific ocean. he is the first person to go that deep sense 1960 and the first person to make the journey alone. added that the over 10 kilometers, the biggest ri

the catholic church has -- it is still in a fairly difficult position here. the communist mission is to provide free education for everyone. there are no church schools here. they cannot build new churches, either. there is a seminary. things are changing slowly. the church hopes it can help change happen further. it wants to bring people back to the religion after so many years of atheism. >> this is a good move for president castro. he has previously used the church. >> a man intervened when the issue of political prisoners in cuba became extremely difficult for the government. there were massive demonstrations between 2003 and 2010. it is when they became the focus of international attention in 2010 that the cardinal stepped in. he intervened and eventually negotiated the release of 75 political prisoners here. it was a key moment in terms of showing how the church has begun to use its influence. there are people here, particularly dissidents in cuba, who are asking the church to do more, to speak out for human rights, on the island. they say there is reli

catholics on this panel.ryone is ready to jump in, i want to bring in another piece of exit polling data. overall in ohio, romney won 40% of the female vote and santorum won 37%, not a big difference, however if you split it unmarried women. romney 45% and santorum 28%. working women -- >> romney has problems with republican voters, approximate but we know that santorum is going to have problems in a general election with independent voters on issues like contraception, look at the numbers, how are you answering what the romney people are arguing is that every day that santorum is staying in the race is assistanting barack obama in winning re-election and a barrier to republican s not ju at the top of the ticket but down ballot? >> we know why romney wants us out of the race, he wants uses out of the race so equity talking about -- the things he passed and profited from in the state of north carolina. >> i thought he wants to talk about his pro growth economic plan and his job creation record at bain capital.

in 2003, he realized his calling was with the catholic church. >> the catholic church is the fullestjesus meant christianity to be. i wanted to be a part of that. >> pope john paul ii, issued a little known edict that said protestant priests wishing to become catholic should not break their marriage vows. it took five years of schooling and a blessing from pope benedict to make father doug one of 77 priests in the u.s. converted allegiance to the vatican. >> when he comes home and says to you, i want to convert, what was your reaction? >> i got very mad. and i said, look, how are we going to eat? i was really angry. >> are you going back in? >> that's because in giving up his protestant ministry, father doug took a considerable pay cut. the catholic church hasn't quite figured out how to pay a priest with a family. it's a good thing lynn runs the diocese life office. she's the bread winner. last year, father doug joined his new parish, the church of the risen christ. the 45-year-old congregation hosts 3200 families. monsignor ken leone says his parish never heard of anyone like him.

i'm a roman catholic and i am a practicing proman catholic. when i was a kid growing up, it was a mortal sin to eat meat on friday. and then after we changed popes, you didn't have to abstain on fridays and it wasn't a synonym. i'm worried, why do we allow this kind of pontiffical action to not have any kind of flexibility. because it was a mortal sin when i was a kid and it's not a sin today. >> here's a story from "the huffington post." from the headline if you could just briefly tell us this story as well. >> it was a debate we were having on the floor about whether or not we should continue to provide funding to planned parenthood who provides services for, you know, breast canner, breast screenings, contraceptive pills and 3% of their business is for abortion services, none of the federal money was going for that purpose. and one of my colleagues started talking about second trimester abortions and was reading from a book and describing a leg being sawed off. i just was stunned by it. i had a second trimester my carriage which resulted in

do you think marco rubio were rejoice, a catholic and apparently a fine catholic, will rejoice hearing that when marco is -- into no, they're not! and if you're running in florida, you should probably be hard-line on this. but let me say this. the soviet empire is over. the point is i think we ought to begin to engage with the =+v.p1ju by step, the way we did before. >> very with been doing that! >> no, it's been tomorrower and we ought to engage in -- in other words, the regime separate the regime from the people. >> you think it was indicating that when he was talk to the head of russia? he will be flexible? lift the embargo? >> i think he's talking about missiles there. >> we move from missiles to the embargo. >> you're right. >> we'll be right back -- it's another second term issue. >> we'll with predictions. >>> prediction, pat? >> obama care individual mandate goes gown but it's a split decision, the other parts are saved. >> eleanor. >> the palin affect raises the bar for my woman considered to be mitt romney's running mate. >> interesting. tim? >> if mitt romney leading in the

edict coming down isn't about catholic institutions. wrongly framed as catholic issue.his applies to all employers across the united states. also catholic institutions all employers, like myself. i pay for my employee's health insurance. if i have a conscience problem with this type of coverage, then i have no rights whatsoever. that's the issue that the house judiciary committee hearing was trying to get at and that's why they have the witnesses that they have. mind you, it was a republic run hearing so the guest did weight toward the point of view. republicans do the same thing when they're in charge. elijah cummings complaint. sandra fluke as a law student somehow has time and when i was a law student i could barrelly do the work. it was crushing amount of work. she somehow finds the time to jet around the united states to appear on behalf of this issue. free country. she certainly can make her point of view known. >> bill: she doesn't have enough money to buy the pill at $9 a month. >> that's a lot of time away from law school. >> bill: look, here is why this is a v

a lot of the catholic -- catholic functions are self-insured by the catholic church and that's true of other churches as well. the fact of the matter is, it's no solution whatsoever. and it was something that didn't need this type of intrusion because people had access to these various drugs that -- that some are concerned about here today. and nobody on our side, it seems to me, fails to realize that religious commitment is important. religious beliefs are important. the first amendment is important. the free exercise of religion is important. that's what's involved here. my gosh, to hear these arguments that this is all about contraception, my gosh. that's not what it's about. it's about the right of people with religious beliefs to practice their religion unmolested by government. i want to commend the distinguished senator from missouri. it takes guts to stand up on these issues when they're so distorted by some on the other side. i'd be ashamed to make some of the arguments that were made on this issue. why do you think -- and i just single out the catholic church which is the lar

church defenders say these cases do not reflect today's catholic church. >> the catholic church, to myt extensive comprehensive program dealing with people who are going to work there, in the catholic church, or are working in the catholic church as well as volunteers. >> reporter: victim advocates insist the church still has problems. >> we still haven't seen one bishop to be fired or publishly punished for enabling or covering up for a sexual predator priest. >> reporter: rich green plans on attending lynn's trial. as a high school freshman in philadelphia, green, the nephew of cardinal john o'connor of new york, says he was sexually abused repeatedly by his religion teacher, a priest who's now dead. green settled with the catholic church last year but still feels bitter. >> worse than the abuse itself, to know that somebody could have stepped in and stopped it. >> reporter: a court-imposed gag order prevents all parties from commenting. but when the charges were first announced, philadelphia's d.a. made a point of saying that as a catholic, he's not targeting the institution. >> thi