Posted on 07/22/2014 5:58:17 AM PDT by Teófilo
Brethren: Peace be with you.
I wanted to share with you this press release issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):
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| "'Freedom of conscience'? What's that?" |
WASHINGTON–The bishop-Chairmen of two USCCB Committees responded with great concern to President Obama’s July 21 executive order to prohibit federal government contractors from what the Administration deems “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” discrimination and to forbid “gender identity” discrimination in the employment of federal employees. The problems the bishops identify in the order relate both to the flaws in its core prohibitions, and to its lack of religious freedom protection.
Two USCCB Chairmen – Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty and Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, Chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth – together issued the following statement.
Today’s executive order is unprecedented and extreme and should be opposed.Commentary. Brothers and sisters: President Obama's arrogance and abuse of power knows no limits. Personally, I am not against discrimination on the job for any reasons, for everyone deserves to eat and therefore, everyone deserves to work. Yet, this latest Presidential diktat is not only unnecessary in my view, but also another frontal attack against our First Amendment liberty, ostensibly under the guise of achieving a relative "good."
In the name of forbidding discrimination, this order implements discrimination. With the stroke of a pen, it lends the economic power of the federal government to a deeply flawed understanding of human sexuality, to which faithful Catholics and many other people of faith will not assent. As a result, the order will exclude federal contractors precisely on the basis of their religious beliefs.
More specifically, the Church strongly opposes both unjust discrimination against those who experience a homosexual inclination and sexual conduct outside of marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman. But the executive order, as it regards federal government contractors, ignores the inclination/conduct distinction in the undefined term “sexual orientation.” As a result, even contractors that disregard sexual inclination in employment face the possibility of exclusion from federal contracting if their employment policies or practices reflect religious or moral objections to extramarital sexual conduct.
The executive order prohibits “gender identity” discrimination, a prohibition that is previously unknown at the federal level, and that is predicated on the false idea that “gender” is nothing more than a social construct or psychological reality that can be chosen at variance from one’s biological sex. This is a problem not only of principle but of practice, as it will jeopardize the privacy and associational rights of both federal contractor employees and federal employees. For example, a biological male employee may be allowed to use the women’s restroom or locker room provided by the employer because the male employee identifies as a female.
In an attempt to avoid these needless conflicts, states that have passed “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” prohibitions have overwhelmingly included protections for religious employers. When the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by the President’s own party, passed the similar Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) last year, it included religious liberty protections as well. Indeed, all prior versions of ENDA had at least some religious liberty protections. But the executive order is an anomaly in this regard, containing no religious liberty protections. In this way, the order, which is fundamentally flawed in itself, also needlessly prefers conflict and exclusion over coexistence and cooperation.
Regarding federal contractors, the Executive Order will take effect after rules to be promulgated by the Department of Labor implementing the Executive Order become final. Regarding federal employment, the Executive Order is effective immediately.
” Too many bishops in the USCCB have “power” ties to the government.”
When a bishop is dependent upon a patron, he will be conflicted when it comes time to judge that patron. We saw that all throughout the middle ages.
Some things never change.
It dates back to the end of the Thirty Years War. The Swedes basically won the war in the North, and were a very hard master in many areas.
Growing up “Swede” was a near swear word. Didn’t understand why till I got into genealogy and realized most of my area came from the Northern Baltic shore, and from southern Germany (the Catholics). Both suffered under the Swedes, and carried the distaste to the USA.
The only worse thing was a Prussian.
And don't kid yourself, the hope by the Bishops is that most of the people will stay Catholic. But you are right, many do not.
Heck we have large Hispanic LCMS churches right now. It is sometimes rather odd to wander into a LCMS church in the southwest and see a Hispanic liturgy with an Oktoberfest celebration mentioned in the bulletin
As for the “cooties”, well besides bed bugs (bad pun) that is an issue. Another is the fact that we are in a depression, and importing millions of unskilled laborers will not help the people already here find work.
For me, it is different. I know what happens to a lot of these people. They are treated as slaves, kept isolated by their employers (many don't speak Spanish, but an Indian dialect) and more often than should get sold into the sex trade.
If we need the workers, that is fine. Bring them in legally, and have them get paid the same rate and benefits. Right now, they are hired for well below the minimum wage, with no benefits. We had to fight a war to stop slavery in this country, I would rather not start it again.
A deal. Live long and prosper and then we will debate St Peter. I will remind him that St Thomas said that not defending innocent life, be it your own or others, is a grave sin though so I hope you are on board with that! :-)
It does explain it.
People who frequent discussion forums like this one are ideological voters. The vast majority of Americans are not. Near as I can tell, the vast majority of Americans vote either democrap or repugnican because their (great) grandparents did. They pay very little attention to what those parties actually claim to represent or support.
When you use a pic with these two characters and suggest that one is a snake, it might be helpful if you were to be specific as to which one you are referencing. Just a thought.
Why is your heart weeping today?
I thought it was obvious.
Sorry I did not get back on this earlier. Storms in the area and my husband wanted to be fed and have some clean clothes and maybe a little attention. The Nerve! Just kidding.
Multitudes have been damned (literally) for that.
I see it in my family members who remain in the ELCA. They start supporting things like abortion, gay unions, and loose sex because, well, they are in the ELCA. Never mind about doctrine, faith, or the hope of salvation, they are in the church that their grandfather’s were, so they must follow it even though the faith of their grandfathers was much different.
But I have been told that I do not have a respect for “institutional authority”. Which typically means that I have faith, morals, and will not violate them in order to play nice. I strive (and fail as we all do) to be good, as Christ said to. Nice is the wide path that leads to hell.
When younger, I relished arguing with such people. No longer. I live in the Truth, now I am busy to live it out. The anti-Catholic crowd are just faint background noise to me.
~Theo
I need to work on that. I guess just like liberals, I need to quit worrying about why they think what they think.
I humbly suggest you view it as I have started to. A way to better define your self, and honestly amusement.
A good friend of mine is a pastor, and is friends with a priest near our age. We were all out watching a football game (it was in Nebraska, that is what we do) talking theology, when one of the two said “You know, in heaven, Christ is going to sit us down, send Peter over, and tell us how big of block head we were.”
In other words, while theology is very important, we have to remember we are children trying to understand the movement of the sea. We simply don’t have enough brain power, information, or words to figure God out. We have His Revelation, and the other gifts He has given us, but in the end we will not know till Heaven.
Which in many ways, makes me very excited to get there.
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