Cuban-Born Miami Bishop Warns that Bush Request for Church Membership Resembles Castro’s

Here is something I certainly never expected to see. A Miami Bishop, born in Cuba, has said President Bush reminds him of Castro. OK, he's an Episcopalian Bishop, not a Catholic, but still…

Here's what the Miami Herald reported (reg. req.),

As the Bush-Cheney campaign mounts an offensive to solidify a religious base for the November election, the Episcopal bishop of Southeast Florida has joined a chorus of religious leaders denouncing the campaign's plan to obtain church directories for electioneering purposes.

To Bishop Leo Frade, the Bush-Cheney strategy violates the separation of church and state.

“Handing over names for partisan politics to any party would be an infraction of our tax-exempt status as a religious institution,'' said Frade, who heads 82 Episcopal churches in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe and Martin counties.

Frade, who was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 1960 as a college student, went further in a July 2 diocesan letter.

“I'm alarmed by any suggestion of providing the names of church members to any particular political group,'' he wrote. “I saw this request made by Fidel Castro at the beginning of his regime, and his persecution of churches that refused.''

The Herald reprints the GOP instructions to churches, or church members, here. (It also reports the interesting GOP claim that what the GOP is doing to evangelical churches is just like what Democrats have done for years in black churches. Is that true? Have Democrats ever been that organized?)

Incidentally in other Florida-Cuban news, it turns out that Bush's allegations about Cuba being a sex-tourism haven may be several years out of date (at least, that's what the Cubans claim, and there's some evidence to support it) and that Bush's picked GOP Senate candidate, Mel Martinez, is getting some south Florida flack for suggesting that some Cuban refugees are economic refugees, not entitled to political asylum.

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5 Responses to Cuban-Born Miami Bishop Warns that Bush Request for Church Membership Resembles Castro’s

  1. peter jung says:

    Speaking of sex tourism, check out the link below. The GOP Convention is one of the busiest times of the year for professional ladies of the night….
    ———————————————————-

    Sex pros get ready for party

    BY JOSE MARTINEZ
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

    With thousands of Republicans set to invade the city this summer, high-priced escorts and strippers are preparing for one grand old party. Agencies are flying in extra call girls…..

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/206962p-178564c.html

  2. Jean says:

    Bush as Castro sounds right to me. That should be a big hit in South Florida.
    I heard even the Baptists were screaming about this one.

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  4. Stanley says:

    “OK, he’s an Episcopalian Bishop, not a Catholic, but still…”

    Just for the record Episcopalians are catholic, just not Roman Catholic.

  5. michael says:

    What I meant was that there are far more Roman Catholics Cubans here then other types, so that goes to the representativeness of the sentiment.

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