Churchbound?(On the Right)(Christian behavior)

New York, December 19.

Rush Limbaugh was talking about religion as also, that very day, Sean Hannity. One day earlier Christie Hefner was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Playboy.

Rush said listen to this, folks, Catholic voters tended over the years to go Democratic, but there has been a slide toward the GOP in recent elections, and one-third of Catholics are now thought of as swing voters. That means--Limbaugh discussed the point with a guest--that state and court action on the matter of gay marriage will certainly affect many Catholic voters, and if they view government as laggard on the question, they will continue to move to the right.

Hannity said that he was himself Catholic and that he attends a church which on Sundays is standing room only. He attributes this in part to God, but mostly to his pastor, who, says Hannity, is rigorous in his defense of Christian doctrines, forswearing temptations to truckle to modernism. He too thought that the evolution of the gay-marriage business would be politically important.

Christie Hefner was acknowledged by her host as the executive successor to her father, Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine. She was asked what mostly was she proud about in Playboy, and she answered that her magazine had done a great deal to foster liberal ideas.

Playboy publishes much material (I have written extensively for it) unrelated to sexual matters, and although it is emphatically heterosexual, Limbaugh would be correct if he guessed that it would endorse gay marriage. The reason here is that the Playboy philosophy is permissive on all points that have to do with sexual predilections (though minors are not allowed). If the priest who addresses the congregation where Hannity worships speaks out against gay marriage, just hang on for a bit. Things will change.

And the Playboy philosophy has reason to believe it will be so. ...