Photo by Bullneck

The Catholic Church is shaking things up these days, huh? The same Church that silenced Galileo Galilei has acknowledged that aliens could maybe exist. Further, the Church says that xenomorphs might not require redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church is only talking astrobiology in theoretical terms right now, but what’s preventing the Vatican from launching its own national space program? Could we see, you know, a mission to Mars?

So alien beings on distant planets who have known neither Christ nor original sin and maybe have acid for blood are A-OK with the Church. Teh gay, however, is not. Archbishop Donald Wuerl — who is not so much a popular guy in the gay ol’ District these days, following the Archdiocese’s controversial threat to rescind its social-work contracts should the D.C. Council legalize gay marriage — takes to the Washington Post today with a column to explain the Church’s view. Writes Wuerl:

While we do not agree with the council on redefining marriage, we recognize that it is firmly committed to opening marriage to homosexual couples. We are asking that new language be developed that more fairly balances different interests — those of the city to redefine marriage and those of faith groups so that they can continue to provide services without compromising their deeply held religious teachings and beliefs. The archdiocese has not been alone in requesting broader language. Other groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and nationally recognized legal scholars all called for stronger protections for religious freedom in their testimony on the original bill.

It is uncomfortably tempting to make a pun when an Archbishop makes a bad-faith argument.