A game of chicken?

Legislators in Washington D.C. appear to be on a collision course with the Archdiocese of Washington whose Catholic Charities arm partners with the city to provide services to about 68,000 people. Officials of the Archdiocese are concerned that if lawmakers adopt a proposal to allow same sex "marriages" the Church might be forced to provide benefits to same sex couples and thereby recognize those unions.

The marriage legislation is expected to pass next month and has the mayor's support.

Jane G. Belford, the chancellor of the Washington archdiocese, wrote Councilman Phil Mendelson on Wednesday asking for an exemption to protect the church's religious freedoms. The church wants to be exempt from any measure that would require it to extend benefits to same-sex couples or allow gays and lesbians to adopt children.

The Councilman considers such an exemption to be a dangerous precedent. "Allowing individual exemptions opens the door for anyone to discriminate based on assertions of religious principle," Mendelson said.

Once more the tension arises between the church being in the world but not of the world.