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The state Catholic Conference, which is considered one of the more liberal conferences in the nation, made the decision, according to sources inside MoveOn.org, after the left-wing group promised to help the conference with other policy issues it is involved in on the state level, including immigration reform.
Regulation of the Internet became an issue in the state of Michigan after the activists supporting federal regulation of the Internet, sometimes called "Net Neutrality," lost their fight in Congress last fall. Move.org, as well as some of the Internet businesses pushing regulation of the Internet, including Google, Amazon, eBay and Microsoft, have started seeking state Internet regulation legislation in some statehouses, including Michigan.
Overall, the National Catholic Conference of Bishops based in Washington, D.C. is considered by most practicing Catholics to be left-leaning on most political and moral issues, with the exception of abortion.
"In that regard, we're not surprised that the Michigan office would do something like this, because it's a political issue and I'm sure they see some kind of First Amendment tie-in or something," says a Capitol Hill source who works with the Catholic Conference on abortion-related issues at times. "But to get in bed with groups that espouse positions that run counter to just about every critical moral position the Church holds, from abortion to same sex marriage to stem cell research, is just abhorrent."