Destroying Catholicism

Geo Weigel reports:

In a deft response to the spin and distortion that have characterized this debate for two months, “United for Religious Freedom” usefully clarifies just what the argument is not:

This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive. . . . This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the bishops’ somehow ‘banning contraception,’ when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is, instead, about the federal government forcing the Church . . . to act against Church teachings. This is not a matter of opposition to universal health care, which has been a concern of the Bishops’ Conference since 1919, virtually at its founding. This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. Finally, this is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue.

The Administrative Committee’s statement then crisply defines what the HHS mandate involves.

It involves an “unwarranted” and “extremely narrow” definition of who is a “religious employer “ — a definition that “creates and enforces a new distinction” between Catholic houses of worship, on the one hand, and, on the other, the Church’s charitable activities and its educational efforts. According to the administration’s regulatory scheme, the latter will become “second class” citizens, in a dramatic break with both Catholic tradition and federal law.

I'd say the President made a political mistake, but given the pushing of Abortion and population control policies on the Philippines, and pushing radical"gay rights" on African countries (which is leaving a lot of Africans aghast), I'd say it's an agenda, and he says to hell with all those who oppose it.

For the child of an African and the son of an anthropologist, President Obama seems very dense in cross cultural understanding...

A minor adjustment would have allowed the bishops to applaud him, a slightly different way of promoting equal rights would let Africans and Asians to cooperate with him. But the way these things are pushed here (and in many African countries, if one believes their press) is a high handed way (with those being told what to do being made to understand their failure will have consequences).


and then there is this:the anchoress writes:

The Mandated $1 Abortion Contribution of Obamacare: Reality or not? If the MSM ignores it, does it cease to go into effect?