-Catholic Bishops: “Will Not Comply” with Obama Administration Contraceptives Order
by Dr. D ~ January 31st, 2012
(Image by elycefeliz via Flickr)
Last Sunday, Catholic churches all across America read a letter to congregants supporting the church’s stance against the Obama administration order that employers must include contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their health-care coverage. Churches are exempt from the order but not allied ministries including hospitals, schools, and colleges regardless of faith-based opposition.
The Obama administration has given the Catholic ministries and other church-affiliated hospitals and organizations one year to comply. The Catholic bishops are saying that they ‘will not comply’ with the federal requirement devised by the current administration setting up a legal battle in the near future.
Response: This is a significant battle for religious freedom. Many churches have allied ministries that they support and they should not be required to violate the faith-based belief system that is the foundation for these allied organizations in the first place.
The Catholic Church stands firmly opposed to all medications and procedures that would terminate the life of an unborn child. Some of the contraceptives themselves are abortive in nature in that they can potentially eliminate already fertilized eggs contrary to Catholic beliefs.
The Catholic Bishops are taking a stand here that could help to clarify whether the First Amendment and ‘religious freedom’ in this country is going to be extended to associated religious ministries or limited only to official churches and worship centers. For many religions, schools are an official part of their ongoing ministry. Where is the line to be drawn
Recently the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a church firing a school teacher but that person was also a licensed minister. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the years to come since many times Catholic Schools in particular are so closely identified with the church and the administration over the local church and school many times involves the same personnel. *Top
Related Posts?:
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- -Catholic Bishops: Religious Liberty is Eroding in America
- -US Catholic Bishops Going Conservative?
January 31st, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Note the timing of Obama’s announcement (late January) and its one year delay – - the requirement will become effective in January 2013.
The next president will be elected in November, 2012, and will be inaugurated on January 20, 2013.
Just in case he loses, Obama is very cynically handing a poison pill to his successor. If the successor rescinds the regulation, the main stream media will throw a fit that the new president is anti-women. The usual suspects will be up in arms.
On the other hand, if the new president does NOT rescind these regulations, the next president will be accused of being anti-Christian by the same suspects mentioned in the previous paragraph. And you can bet the main stream media will NOT emphasize in its coverage that the regulation came from President Obama, but will instead at least imply that it iis the fault of the Romney, Gingrinch, Santorum or whomever administration.
Brian
January 31st, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Brian, you are absolutely correct how this will play in the MSM. Not only that, if Obama wins he will claim a mandate to be even more radical during his 2nd term and this issue will be minor compared to all of the rest of the executive orders he is stacking up to become effective in Jan. 2013.
There is a tidal wave of action planned for the first 100 days of 2013 and all of it by executive order leaving Congress out of the loop and ignoring any opposition challenging his authority.
From what I have read, there are literally over a 1000 executive orders that any new president will have to deal with immediately.
February 1st, 2012 at 1:13 pm
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February 2nd, 2012 at 8:26 am
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