8:05 a.m. CDT, April 20, 2012

Just looking at that title of John C. Murphy's letter to the editor ("Catholics should know better than to oppose gay marriage," April 18) makes me laugh. As if the writer is some expert on what people should know. Maybe we can call it Murphy's Law — Catholics are not allowed to protest on anything. After all, the writer claims that Catholics were denied rights in Colonial Maryland, and after two more unrelated and arguable sentences, there is supposed to be some analogy to gay marriage.

Mr. Murphy's conclusion is that a simple request at church to support the anti-gay marriage ban referendum became some denial of a civil right. If it were a right then we wouldn't have a need for a vote on it would we? Maybe he should think of the issue this way. Catholics are also taxpayers, and taxpayers have a right to vote on issues. He might want to start his own church because Christian churches know that gay marriage violates Biblical teaching. But Mr. Murphy knows better than the Bible I guess?

Thomas Bateman, Lutherville

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