Read the lobbying points of the Texas Catholic Conference or the USCCB. They are rife with demands to “fund this, fund that, fund the other.” It sends a chill up one’s spine when you replace the verb “fund” with the truth behind it: “Take forcibly from those who earn the wealth.” What religious principle justifies such larceny?

I call it “surrogate Christianity” or “surrogate charity.” It’s the art of being generous with someone else’s money, to people whose problems or whose faces I would rather not confront myself, and who come to expect the “charity” as an entitlement. No one’s soul is saved.