I felt compelled to post something about the current furor in the States between the Catholic Church and the Government over the announced mandate to force the church to cover contraception in contravention of church beliefs and doctrine. I will say up front that I am Catholic and support eh church in its position.
Firstly, I keep reading comments on articles about the controversy to the extent that Catholics should shut up and comply because not every employee of Catholic hospitals is Catholic. To which I respond that accepting a job at any organization is a choice and you cannot convince me that employees of Catholic institutions do not know the type of organization they work for.
Second, The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is 100% correct when they state that the HHS contraception mandate is an infringement of religious liberty. As the debate heats up and the secular-humanist types get more vociferous in their denouncement of Catholic for denying women the choice to kill their babies I am increasingly reminded of the famous pen by Martin Niemöller:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
The assault on religion in American, and Western, life continues. If no one stands up as the Catholic bishops are now doing, what kind of world do people of faith face in 20 or 30 years. I read many more heartfelt obituaries about Christopher Hitchens from the left than I ever did about Pope John Paul II from that same left media. Religion is under assault in the Western world, at least Christianity itself is, if not other, eastern and more mystic or violent faiths.
Update 14 February: There is an excellent analysis piece of this controversy by Charles Kadlec at the Forbes website: The Audacity of Power: President Obama Vs. The Catholic Church
11 March 2012 at 21:30
Slightly off subject, but along the same idea, you also have the gays pushing for hate crime laws. The Southern Poverty Law center has recently classified a pro-family, bible believing institution as a hate group. Speaking out against gay marriage or contraception I predict will soon be considered hate speech. Never in my life did I think preaching from the Bible would ever be considered a hate crime. Some people say I’m extreme or exagerrating when I compare today’s Left with the Nazis. I think those people (including gays and adulterers) should take a step back and learn ALL the history behind the Nazis rise to power. The similarities are alarming, except this time it’s global. The UK is discussing proposing a ban on Christians wearing a cross, the US is pushing gay marriage and forcing religious institutionms to violate their religious principles. The examples are there, so it’s difficult to ignore.
To papraphrase from an article I read recently: the Left is at war with normal society, and their beliefs are so repugnant, that they have to conceal it with sweet sounding lies. Whether or not Rush has gone too far with his ‘slut’ comment is irrelevent. What we see going on is instead of the sinner be ostracized, the ones who take the moral side and the side of religious liberty are being ridiculed. The Left today tries to “intellectualize” their justification for opposing Christianity just as the Nazis intellectually justified their hatred of the Jews.
12 March 2012 at 14:25
The Left would love to see Religion banned. SO far what stops them is the First Amendment, I don’t see that listing to long though. For some reason, Religion and Religious people offend the very fiber of people on the Left. Personally I think it is because they know there life is empty of real purpose absent the presence of God in their life.