Posted on 06/08/2013 6:33:33 PM PDT by Biggirl
(CNSNews.com) - Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is calling on Americans to wake up and recognize that the Founding Fathers' vision of religious freedom is now threatened by the federal government.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
I wish this man had stood up and said this in October, 2012. Now, it seems a little late.
|
He did - many times - and even wrote a book.
Our pastor asked us to write to the Legislators of our state to ask them to vote against the Woman’s Equality Act which will demand that the church allow abortions.
October 2008 would have been a more opportune time. But as long as more than 50% of “Catholics” vote democrat, it really doesn’t make any difference.
Catholic Archbishop: Wake Up! Religious Liberty at Risk in USA
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
(CNSNews.com) - Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is calling on Americans to wake up and recognize that the Founding Fathers' vision of religious freedom is now threatened by the federal government.
"The day when Americans could take the Founders' understanding of religious freedom as a given is over," said the archbishop. "We need to wake up."
Chaput, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, pointed to Obamacare's sterilization-contraception-abortifacient regulation as one example. The regulation, issued by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, requires almost all health-care plans in the United States to provide coverage for sterilizations, artificial contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs to all women of reproductive age--even if the person or employer providing the insurance coverage and even if the female beneficiaries themselves do not want the coverage and believe it is morally wrong and violates their religious beliefs.
"[T]he HHS mandate can only be understood as a form of coercion," the archbishop wrote in a recent column posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The column is entitled, "Religious Freedom and the Need to Wake Up."
Last year, the Catholic bishops of the United States unanimously approved a statement describing the HHS regulation as an "unjust and illegal mandate." The unanimous bishops said the regulation not only violated the religious freedom of religious institutions but also the "personal civil rights" of individual Americans who will be forced to comply with it either as employers or employees.
Archbishop Chaput noted that the bishops believe "basic medical care is a matter of social justice and human dignity." That principal, however, does not empower the government to force Americans to violate their moral and religious convictions.
"But health care has now morphed into a religious liberty issue provoked entirely--and needlessly--by the current White House," the archbishop wrote. "Despite a few small concessions under pressure, the administration refuses to withdraw or reasonably modify a Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate that violates the moral and religious convictions of many individuals, private employers and religiously affiliated and inspired organizations."
The archbishop noted that the administration's disregard for religious liberty in the enforcement of this regulation is in line with its refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act and its advocacy in the Hosanna-Tabor case.
The Defense of Marriage Act says that a state cannot be forced to recognize a same-sex marriage contracted in another state and that for federal purposes marriage is between one man and one women. The Supreme Court is now considering the constitutionality of DOMA, and the administration has asked the court that the law be thrown out, arguing that opposition to same-sex marriage (which is the position of the Catholic Church and many other religious denominations) is the constitutional equivalent of racial discrimination.
In the Hosanna-Tabor case, the administration argued unsuccessfully in the Supreme Court that the government could tell a Lutheran school it must restore as a "commissioned minister" a person who violated the teachings of the Lutheran faith.
"Coupled with the White House's refusal to uphold the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and its astonishing disregard for the unique nature of religious freedom displayed by its arguments in a 9-0 defeat in the 2012 Hosanna-Tabor Supreme Court decision, the HHS mandate can only be understood as a form of coercion," wrote the archbishop.
"Access to inexpensive contraception is a problem nowhere in the United States," he said. "The mandate is thus an ideological statement; the imposition of a preferential option for infertility. And if millions of Americans disagree with it on principle--too bad."
The archbishop went on to observe that abortion advocates use fraudulent language in describing their position.
"The fraud at the heart of our nation's 'reproductive rights' vocabulary runs very deep and very high," he wrote. "In his April 26 remarks to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the president never once used the word 'abortion,' despite the ongoing Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia and despite Planned Parenthood's massive role in the abortion industry."
The archbishop noted that the scandal "involving IRS targeting of 'conservative' organizations ... also has a religious dimension."
"But the latest IRS ugliness," he wrote, "is a hint of the treatment disfavored religious groups may face in the future, if we sleep through the national discussion of religious liberty now. The day when Americans could take the Founders' understanding of religious freedom as a given is over. We need to wake up."
That’s great but his own church’s support for “social justice” is just support for socialist causes that are a tyranny all their own. Wake up Catholics!
Here's what Chaput was saying in that "more opportune time."
You're welcome.
I though social justice was more important? /sarc
As long as simpletons keep parroting the results of media driven exit polls which utilize unscientific and unreliable methodology, at best, the truth doesn’t matter.
You make the all too frequent mistake of thinking that prudential statements made by some equates to the teaching of the Church. It doesn’t.
This country is majority protestant, last I checked.
Sir, one cannot simply *praise* the Catholic church.
"But as long as more than 50% of “Catholics” vote democrat, it really doesn’t make any difference."
That's a totally absurd statement.
Try, "As long as the solidly Evangelical and Independent non-Catholic Conservative Christian black folks vote nearly 98% for fascist democrats it really doesn't make any difference how the 1/8 of Catholics who swing the Catholic vote from one candidate to another in this country vote". That still avoids the real issue but at least it's not completely absurd.
The fact is it's mathematics, not Protestant wishful thinking, that wins elections. A large percentage of non-Catholic people who claim to be Christian stay home storing dried beans and rice so they'll be able to cower in hiding if things go from bad to worse instead of voting and working for candidates. As long as hiding in cubby holes and patting themselves on their backs instead of standing up to the democrat fascists is the norm for that large percentage of people who claim to be non-Catholic Christians, nothing will change.
And make no mistake about it, that's the voting block that has handed King Barry and the fascist nobility the past two Presidential elections and most Congressional races over the past eighty years by hiding under the stairs and leaning how to play whatever "Christian Rock" was the fad at the time on their fiddles and guitars while the nation burns. Praise The Lord Cowardice has been the main cause of fascist political success for most of the past eighty years and Jerry Falwell making a difference by swimming against the tide for a few elections proved it.
For every single Catholic coward who joined that Protestant "go along to get along" crowd there are a half dozen non-Catholics who talked them into hiding from Satan rather than fighting Satan and brag about having done so (except at election time when they say such folks are still Catholic for statistical reasons).
Worst of all, the elite Special Forces of the Praise The Lord Coward Club, are the ones who hope every day will be the day Jesus Christ will surrender to Satan then evacuate them to party. That means each and every day they hope Jesus Christ will contradict His Own Word to keep their little special snowflake rear ends from having to bear their cross and follow Him. They're the elite because they've completely abandoned the battlefield taking only sheet music for Are You Ready by Rare Earth with them and now broadcast a constant stream of exciting bestselling "Surrender to Satan Now" propaganda from behind the bags of red beans in their bunkers.
It is the completely deluded, self-centered, Self Worshiping, excuse making, go along to get along, overwhelming majority, of voters who are non-Catholic, Protestant or Protestant derived "Christians", who play the electoral tune in this country and they always have. Not Catholics, and not the 1/8 of Catholics who are the swing vote within the Catholic twenty percent of total voters.
Most importantly, the Praise The Lord Coward Club has been the swing vote within the Protestant overwhelming majority of the electorate for the entire eighty plus years during which they granted obviously fascist democrats almost uninterrupted control of the Legislative Branch of Congress in return for the fascists, "bringing home the bacon" to their little fiefdom. Protracted control of the Legislative Branch that is in the final analysis what has brought us to the current sorry state of affairs in this country.
Fortunately, there aren't very many people anymore who are stupid or ignorant enough to fall for anti-Christ, anti-Christian, "blame Catholics", garbage spread by dupes or deceivers in order to help keep Christians fighting among themselves.
Have a nice day
"IRS officials have, of course, confessed that they inappropriately targeted conservative groups -- especially those with 'tea party' or 'patriot' in their names -- for extra scrutiny when they sought non-profit status. Allegations of abuse or harassment have since broadened to include groups conducting grassroots projects to 'make America a better place to live,' to promote classes about the U.S. Constitution or to raise support for Israel.
"However, it now appears the IRS also challenged some individuals and religious groups that, while defending key elements of their faith traditions, have criticized projects dear to the current White House, such as health-care reform, abortion rights and same-sex marriage."
Terry Mattingly, director, Washington Journalism Center; weekly column, May 22
Let's begin this week with a simple statement of fact. America's Catholic bishops started pressing for adequate health-care coverage for all of our nation's people decades before the current administration took office. In the Christian tradition, basic medical care is a matter of social justice and human dignity. Even now, even with the financial and structural flaws that critics believe undermine the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the bishops continue to share the goal of real health-care reform and affordable medical care for all Americans.
But health care has now morphed into a religious liberty issue provoked entirely - and needlessly -- by the current White House. Despite a few small concessions under pressure, the administration refuses to withdraw or reasonably modify a Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate that violates the moral and religious convictions of many individuals, private employers and religiously affiliated and inspired organizations.
Coupled with the White House's refusal to uphold the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and its astonishing disregard for the unique nature of religious freedom displayed by its arguments in a 9-0 defeat in the 2012 Hosanna-Tabor Supreme Court decision, the HHS mandate can only be understood as a form of coercion. Access to inexpensive contraception is a problem nowhere in the United States. The mandate is thus an ideological statement; the imposition of a preferential option for infertility. And if millions of Americans disagree with it on principle - too bad.
The fraud at the heart of our nation's "reproductive rights" vocabulary runs very deep and very high. In his April 26 remarks to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the president never once used the word "abortion," despite the ongoing Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia and despite Planned Parenthood's massive role in the abortion industry.
Likewise, as Anthony Esolen recently noted so well, NARAL Pro-Choice America's public statement on the conviction of abortionist Gosnell was a masterpiece of corrupt and misleading language. Gosnell was found guilty of murdering three infants, but no such mention was made anywhere in the NARAL Pro-Choice America statement.
None of this is finally surprising. Christians concerned for the rights of unborn children, as well as for their mothers, have dealt with bias in the media and dishonesty from the nation's abortion syndicate for 40 years. But there's a special lesson in our current situation. Anyone who thinks that our country's neuralgic sexuality issues can somehow be worked out respectfully in the public square in the years ahead, without a parallel and vigorous defense of religious freedom, had better think again.
As Mollie Hemingway, Stephen Krason and Wayne Laugesen have all pointed out, the current IRS scandal - involving IRS targeting of "conservative" organizations - also has a religious dimension. Selective IRS pressure on religious individuals and organizations has drawn very little media attention. Nor should we expect any, any time soon, for reasons Hemingway outlines for the Intercollegiate Review. But the latest IRS ugliness is a hint of the treatment disfavored religious groups may face in the future, if we sleep through the national discussion of religious liberty now.
The day when Americans could take the Founders' understanding of religious freedom as a given is over. We need to wake up.
American Catholics are called to observe a second annual "Fortnight for Freedom" this June 21-July 4. For more information, see the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Spot on. Big government Catholics caused this problem. Their influence in unionizatin and urban government is enormous and socialist. Now that the slippery slope’s gotten steep they’re crying foul?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
