Everyone is suddenly serious about politics. Very serious. And nothing is more serious right now than the race between Senate candidate Martha Coakley and Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Coakley, it would seem, is imploding. Whether she’ll win is unclear but the fact that it’s unclear is very bad for Democrats.

But despite the seriousness, the whole thing still reeks of a serious affair being played by petty children. Not that there aren’t serious consequences because there are. Deadly serious. Federal funding for abortion and a government takeover of healthcare is on the immediate horizon.

But just a few days ago Martha Coakley said that she didn’t believe Catholics should work in emergency rooms. Not all Catholics, mind you. Just the serious ones who actually want to live according to the Church’s teachings. You know, as Kathleen Parker calls them, the “oogedy boogedy” religious types.

Coakley’s statement is an incendiary one that should make millions of Catholics squirm in their pew but as of yet it’s only inspired 49 news articles, according to a Google News search of “Coakley, Catholic, emergency room.” And there were 4,197 blog posts including the same search terms.

Here’s the audio in case you missed it:
Folks. A Senate candidate just said Catholics shouldn’t work in emergency rooms! And we get 49 news articles and 4,197 blog posts.

In comparison, Coakley recently displayed her total ignorance of Red Sox nation by calling Curt Schilling of bloody sock fame a Yankee fan. Oops.

And despite that happening a full day later there are already 14,060 blog posts about it and 784 news stories.

Here’s the audio:

Maybe I’m a bit foolish to hope for an elevated discussion during election season but religious persecution is on the rise and seemingly popular in the halls of the powerful.

Is anti-Catholicism in the highest places something to be ignored while a baseball faux pas story is front page news for days?

Which one hurts Coakley more in Massachusetts? Sadly, I’d bet that the Schilling thing hurts her more. What do you think?

Either way, I think anti-Catholicism and anti-Christian behavior is being ignored and we’re all going to pay a price for it. We ignore it at our own peril.