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Jindal teaches the Catholic Church a lesson
Religious News Service ^ | 12/21/2012 | Mark Silk

Posted on 12/21/2012 3:19:14 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal, the conservative Catholic governor of Louisiana, attracted some attention last week for a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he advocated making oral contraceptives available over the counter without a prescription. And for his pains, he received a slap on the wrist from his local archdiocese.

Jindal made his case on libertarian and partisan grounds: People should have a right to buy products free from government restrictions, and letting them do so in this case (as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now recommends) will take contraception out of the political arena (where the Democrats are using it to kick our butts).

In response, the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ communications director told the Times-Picayune, “We disagree with the governor’s opinion because, as the Catholic Church teaches, contraception is always wrong.” And so, presumably, the more readily available it is, the greater the quantum of wrong in the world.

This archdiocesan stance hardly comes as a surprise, but rather than simply let their knees jerk, Catholic powers-that-be would do well to heed Jindal’s more subtle message. The relevant two sentences:

As an unapologetic pro-life Republican, I also believe that every adult (18 years old and over) who wants contraception should be able to purchase it. But anyone who has a religious objection to contraception should not be forced by government health-care edicts to purchase it for others.

Jindal recognizes that implicit in the religion clauses of the First Amendment is a quid pro quo: American society gives you space to conduct your affairs according to your religious lights in exchange for your acknowledging that others have a right to proceed according to theirs. What gets peoples’ backs up is when religious bodies demand exemptions from prevailing norms and at the same time take action in the public square to push their norms on society at large.

Yes, they have a right to behave that way. But they are wise to pick their spots carefully, to know when to beat a strategic retreat, and to make it easier, not harder, for those on the other side to meet their needs.

If the Catholic bishops really wanted their schools and hospitals as well as any employer with religious scruples to be exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, they would be helping the Obama Administration find a way to provide free contraceptive coverage to all women–or at least not getting in the way of the Administration’s doing so.



TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: bobbyjindal; catholic; communists; contraception; jindal; leftists; liberals
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1 posted on 12/21/2012 3:19:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

bttt


2 posted on 12/21/2012 3:25:50 PM PST by Albion Wilde (The only way to stop a man with a gun is with a gun. --Daniel Greenfield)
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To: SeekAndFind
As a conservative Catholic, I believe Jindahl was right.....

Let each individuals personal conscience and religious beliefs govern their choices....

They will eventually have to reconcile their choices with God...

3 posted on 12/21/2012 3:28:36 PM PST by nevergore ("It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.")
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To: nevergore

There are many things people do today that violate God’s laws as written in scripture.

However, it is practically impossible to outlaw them without forfeiting our liberty and without allowing the government to intrude into our private lives.

Count them -— Sodomy, Covetousness, Dishonoring your parents, Taking God’s name in vain, Violating the Sabbath, Adultery, Fornication, etc.

As you said, eventually, what people do morally WILL ULTIMATELY BE JUDGED, not by man, but by God.


4 posted on 12/21/2012 3:36:23 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“And for his pains, he received a slap on the wrist from his local archdiocese.”

Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi never seemed bothered. What are they going to do, Excommunicate them? It’s not like Canon Law permits them to do...wait.


5 posted on 12/21/2012 3:38:57 PM PST by Shadow44
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To: nevergore
Another MAN made church rule....Then there was the MORTAL SIN for eating meat on Friday.

Neither makes any sense.

6 posted on 12/21/2012 3:41:05 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Sacajaweau

I don’t get what the practice of fasting has to do with any of this.


7 posted on 12/21/2012 3:44:29 PM PST by Shadow44
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To: SeekAndFind
Well the Archdiocese had to make its statement, to make their point, but the Governor has one as well. By making them available without prescription, they're taken out of the realm of prescription drug coverage, and thus out of the health coverage issue. Besides, those who are going to use them aren't going to pay attention to what the Church teaches anyway; they haven't for the past 40 years.

The only way to reach them is to explain Humanae Vitae, and most priests don't even understand it, so they've never talked about it in their sermons. At least I've never heard a sermon about it, since I became an adult, in the 7 parishes of which I've been a member in 5 states, over the past 40 years.

8 posted on 12/21/2012 4:17:59 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: SuziQ

RE: Besides, those who are going to use them aren’t going to pay attention to what the Church teaches anyway; they haven’t for the past 40 years.

Well, we also have to consider that many of those working for Catholic Institutions ARE NOT Roman Catholic. Which is to say, they do not consider what the Pope says to be authoritative.


9 posted on 12/21/2012 4:24:31 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Sacajaweau
Hi there, Sacajaweau. I think this is a category mistake.

The fasting laws do not lay out intrinsic moral norms, but can be made "binding" or can be "loosed" according to the "loosing and binding" authority which Christ gave to the Church (Matthew 18:18).

On the other hand, the law against engaging in deliberately disordered or sterilized sex, as in onanism/ sodomy/ contraception/ lesbianism, is Natural Law, and ties in with other Natural Laws like the ones forbidding deliberate misuse, mutilation, or impairment of healthy organs and systems.

The first category (what days do you fast, and so forth)involves changeable disciplines, analogous to driving on the right in the USA (unlike in the UK or Ireland, where you drive on the left.)

The second involves ethical behavior based on the meaning and purposes of created human nature, i.e. Natural Law, which is universal.

10 posted on 12/21/2012 5:01:06 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("God bless the child that's got his own." Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog Jr)
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To: SeekAndFind

As a devout Catholic, the argument that this is an appropriate application of liberty is a sham. Liberty is not about being able to do anything you want. This is a false idea of freedom. No society could function if it was. Freedom entails the freedom for excellence for a human being.

There is nothing of excellence in our contraceptive culture. There is only abandonment of responsible behavior, an enshrined right in our culture today.

The Church is right on this one.


11 posted on 12/21/2012 5:51:18 PM PST by Bayard
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To: Mrs. Don-o

The Bible, through the chair of Saint Peter, who is the Bishop of Rome, calls the shots, not Bobby Jindal. If Jindal can’t abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church he needs to find himself another faith.


12 posted on 12/21/2012 5:51:47 PM PST by NKP_Vet
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To: Bayard

RE: There is nothing of excellence in our contraceptive culture. There is only abandonment of responsible behavior, an enshrined right in our culture today.

__________________________

There is nothing excellent about many things the law does not criminalize either.

Sex outside of marriage isn’t moral according to Catholicism. I am sure you don’t want people who engage in it criminalized.

And as a Catholic, I am sure you also believe that it would be best if everyone were Catholic. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening short of the return of Jesus Christ. And most non-catholics believe that using contraception is NOT going against God’s laws.

If the Catholic church is right ( and I am not catholic but I am simply taking your assumption for argument’s sake ), it is right in the ULTIMATE sense. It cannot however, use government to make people bend to its version of morality in this world.

Not every act the law does not criminalize is moral.

If you want to win this battle, change men’s hearts. That’s all you can do.


13 posted on 12/21/2012 6:01:01 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Bayard

RE: There is nothing of excellence in our contraceptive culture. There is only abandonment of responsible behavior, an enshrined right in our culture today.

__________________________

There is nothing excellent about many things the law does not criminalize either.

Sex outside of marriage isn’t moral according to Catholicism. I am sure you don’t want people who engage in it criminalized.

And as a Catholic, I am sure you also believe that it would be best if everyone were Catholic. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening short of the return of Jesus Christ. And most non-catholics believe that using contraception is NOT going against God’s laws.

If the Catholic church is right ( and I am not catholic but I am simply taking your assumption for argument’s sake ), it is right in the ULTIMATE sense. It cannot however, use government to make people bend to its version of morality in this world.

Not every act the law does not criminalize is moral.

If you want to win this battle, change men’s hearts. That’s all you can do.


14 posted on 12/21/2012 6:01:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: NKP_Vet

RE: If Jindal can’t abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church he needs to find himself another faith.

Jindal won’t abide by Roman Catholic teachings if he himself uses artificial contraception. Does he? I don’t know.

Does giving people (especially non-Catholics) the liberty to buy contraception violate Church teaching?

If so, then I’d say almost all Catholics are in violation of church teaching.

For instance, I don’t see any devout Catholic demanding that government take away the liberty of people to have sex outside marriage at all.


15 posted on 12/21/2012 6:10:18 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: NKP_Vet
I think contraception is objectively harmful to the individual, to the development of respectful relationsips, to marriage and family-formation, and to society as a whole. I would like to stop the govt. from universally promoting it, especially to the unmarried.

On the factual level, I am not quite sure whether a change to OTC for contraceptives would increase, or decrease, availability. On the one hand, it might increase availability for minors who don't want the hassle of a clinic visit for the prescrip. On the other hand, if OTC status means it won't get insurance coverage under prescription plans, it might make it LESS available, since the costs would be out of pocket, which is to say, not picked up by a third party..

From the standpoint of prudence --- which means disciplining oneself to the facts, which is still a cardinal virtue --- I would like some knowledgeable person to assess whether OTC's would be more, or less accessible if they were taken off of prescription plans.

16 posted on 12/21/2012 6:18:29 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” -1 Timothy 3:15)
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To: SeekAndFind

Just a few thoughts by a conservative libertarian agnostic. The inventor of the pill called it the worst mistake he ever made and wanted to outlaw it. Next, track divorce rates and the destruction of the family vs increase in female oral contraception use. Research shows that pheromones signal how similar your are(genetically) to a potential partner(thus less is more attractive.) Current genetic/sociological theory points to the corruption(via the introduction of biosimalar hormones, IE the pill) of the pheromone feed back loop to the strength of the family. You date on the pill, start a family(off the pill) and it falls apart.

So why would there be a anti genetically similar tendency in parental coupling? Its the same reason incest is outlawed in most societies. If you need a reason I’ll post a treatise, but 99.997 of you understand. This is why thinking, logical grownups need to rethink all advances as information advances. Thalidomide is now a very successful chemotherapy drug, and saccharine has been exonerated.


17 posted on 12/21/2012 6:43:30 PM PST by waynesa98
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To: SeekAndFind

You and I are going to disagree here.

You are correct that the state of the US is one that many things cannot be done with the law. But in the ultimate sense, the laws should always be conforming themselves towards the ultimate good. Laws which are removed from this, or are only in proximity towards the good, are also that much unjust.

Catholics are still obligated to do the good regardless of how the world sees it. A Catholic should not support legalizing activity which violates the dignity of human health and sexuality. Its not about what the state thinks is right, or even what society thinks is right.

Mankind is lost without faith. Politics should always be in service to the truth.

The United States has only been around a little over 200 years. In that time, many groups have imposed their moral view upon the populous, including socialists and communists.

Why should we be any different?


18 posted on 12/21/2012 6:45:33 PM PST by Bayard
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To: Bayard

RE: A Catholic should not support legalizing activity which violates the dignity of human health and sexuality.

Then I gather you support government criminalizing immoral acts like sex between unmarried consenting adults in the United States?

This is LEGAL in the USA you know.


19 posted on 12/21/2012 6:55:53 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Sacajaweau
Another MAN made church rule....

Says the one ignorant of Onan.

20 posted on 12/21/2012 9:09:45 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro can't pass E-verify)
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