Anti-torture activist Dr. Steven Miles was scheduled to speak before Masses tomorrow at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis until the Archdiocese there nixed him Wednesday because he is pro-abortion. In response Miles stated an interesting position, according to the Star Tribune:

Miles believes passionately that torture violates fundamental rights of life and dignity. And causes abortions.

"Torture causes women to abort at a horrendous rate," Miles says, "and people who have been tortured are much more likely to commit suicide. The point is that an anti-torture campaign is a pro-life campaign."

I find several holes and inconsistencies in that argument. Do you? Or perhaps you agree with Miles. If so, about what forms of torture do you think he is speaking?

The new poll question is up:

Do you think a pastor or priest would violate a church's tax exempt status to state from the pulpit: "We have a duty to elect candidates who will protect the lives of the unborn."

My goodness, I don't know what it was about last week's question that engaged so many people, but here are the results...

If you voted, find your personal brightly colored flag on the map below. Click to enlarge:

I was particularly intrigued by the huge response from our international friends, particularly from Europe, the bulk of whom thought it would violate law or tax code to distribute campaign literature or didn't know the answer. Click to enlarge map. I've added a close-up map of European votes at the end of this post.

The answer? I actually got the question from the Priests for Life website, and Fr. Pavone responded: "Yes, people do have such a right. We urge them to exercise it, and we ask pastors not to interfere with it."

If a pastor/church does interfere, campaign literature can still be distributed on cars parked on public streets or parking lots around the church, just not on a church's private parking lot. If a church meets at a public school, as many small Protestant churches do, those parking lots are fair game, too.

Since there was so much interest on the topic, here is a list of do's and don't's for political activities at U.S. churches, provided by Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, and The Alliance Defense Fund. Click to enlarge:

Close-up of European votes (click to enlarge):