November
16, 2011
Colum
#1,577
Fighting
For Religious Liberty
By Mike
McManus
“Son of man, I have made you
a watchman for the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 33:7
Pope Gregory preached a
sermon on Ezekiel 1,500 years ago which was quoted to Catholic
bishops in Baltimore this week: “Note that a man whom the Lord
sends forth as a preacher is called a watchman. A watchman
always stands on a height so that he can see from afar what is
coming. Anyone appointed to be a watchman for the people must
stand on a height, for all his life, to help them by his
foresight.”
Accordingly, Baltimore Bishop
William Lori announced “with growing alarm the ongoing erosion
of religious liberty in our country.” As Chairman of a new
Committee on Religious Liberty of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), he reminded them the Declaration of
Independence announced that Life and Liberty are not granted by
government, but were “endowed by their Creator.”
The Founding Fathers gave
religious liberty the “pride of place” as the First Amendment
that government is to make “no law respecting an establishment
of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
This is exactly what the Obama Administration and gay rights activists
have been doing. The churches and religious institutions were
created to enable religious freedom to flourish. Indeed, Lori
noted that the Catholic Church “is the largest non-governmental
source of educational, social, charitable and health care
services, offered as an expression of our faith in the God who
is love.”
New York Archbishop Timothy
Dolan, President of USCCB, recently wrote, “Never before have we
faced this kind of challenge in our ability to engage in the
public square as people of faith and as a service provider.”
What are examples of these
threats?
1.
“The imposition of
court-mandated `rights’ which have no textual basis in the
Constitution such as those that pertain to abortion and same-sex
marriage. Refusal to endorse the taking of human life or to
redefine marriage is now portrayed as discriminatory,” Lori
asserted.
2.
HHS is now
requiring Catholic assistance to sex-trafficking victims to
include “the full range of reproductive services” such as
abortion and contraception, even though other agencies offer
such services, if desired by victims.
3.
The Defense of
Marriage Act defining marriage as the “union
between one man and one woman as
husband and wife,” was passed by Congress by a vote of 342-67 in
the House and 85-14 in the Senate and was signed by Bill
Clinton, a Democrat. The Justice Department, which should be
defending the law, filed briefs attacking DOMA’s
constitutionality, its “bias and prejudice.”
4.
Many Catholic
Charities have withdrawn from adoption and foster care services
because they refuse to place foster children with cohabiting or
same-sex couples.
5.
U.S. Health and
Human Services Department issued regulations “that would mandate
coverage of sterilization and contraception including
abortifacients in private health care plans.” That would take
all Catholic hospitals, universities and health insurance plans
out of federally subsidized health care coverage.
6.
The Department of
Justice has even argued before the U.S. Supreme Court for the
virtual elimination of the “ministerial exception” which allows
religious denominations to “choose their own ministers without
state interference.”
America’s anti-religious bias is
not just targeted at Catholics. When Victoria Childress,
who runs Iowa Cake Cottage, was asked to
bake a “wedding” cake for two lesbians this fall. She politely
refused, explaining, “I am a Christian and I have strong
beliefs.” The women could have gone to another baker, but
instead they organized a boycott against Iowa Cake Cottage.
“It’s not so much to do with
them as it’s to do with me and my walk with God,” Childress
declared. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research
Council, charged: “The only form of discrimination that’s
acceptable in this country is directed at men and women of
faith.”
Illinois passed a Religious
Freedom Protection and Civil Union Law. Big Brother bureaucrats
ignored the “Religious Freedom Protection” part of the law,
interpreting it to mean that Catholics must offer foster
children to cohabiting and gay couples. Six Illinois Catholic
Dioceses had administered a $30 million program placing 3,000
foster children with relatives, married couples or singles,
giving them $275 to $425 per child. Catholics sued and lost at
county level, and were preparing to appeal, but found the state
stopped assigning foster children to them.
The Belleville Diocese quit
after 64 years. It will remove its $9 million program from the
Diocese to establish “Christian Social Services” to continue
foster care and related services of private adoptions, assisted
living, and day care centers.
Belleville abandoned
its faith to continue to serve. |