Merging of Church and State Disturbing? Ha, We've Got It Easy!

Think the conflation of church and state in the US is disturbing? (We are, after all, one of the most actively religious countries in the world -- ie, lots of us go to worship all the time.)

Well, we've got nothing on Spain where a new Socialist prime minister is tussling with the Catholic Church over restraining its influence in public life.

"Summarizing the country's mood," wrote the NYT, "José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the new Socialist prime minister, said the other day that Spaniards wanted more freedom, less dogma and a greater separation of church and state. "They want more sports, less religion,'' he said."

This has meant equal rights for gays in marriage and adoption, making religious education in public schools optional (!) and so on. Rome is furious. The most curious passage:

"But marriage rights for gay couples is far from the only issue troubling the Catholic Church," says NYT. "Further government plans include liberalizing abortion laws, allowing embryo research for therapeutic purposes, making divorce easier and cracking down on domestic violence."

The Catholic Church is disturbed by a crackdown on domestic violence? There's got to be some explanation -- however far-fetched -- for this statement. Anyone know what exactly this refers to?