BISHOP: Religious freedom threatened
July 19, 2012 at 5:37 am in The Daily Republic
The Church today, indeed our country today, is facing a threat to the free exercise of religion and the sanctity of religious conscience by which we live out what we believe. Long protected in law and ever present in our hearts from the moment of our conception, we are being told we must condone and even pay for what we know is morally wrong or face government penalties. Continue Reading
“Explaining the technical, legal and political details is difficult in a message such as this. ” That statement makes everything else moot but..
“Religious freedom threatened”-Doesn’t say how.
“We do not seek to impose our beliefs on others but to live them ourselves”-Then leave the abortion “issue”alone.
(A)”I raise this with you to encourage you to become fully informed about the threat to religious liberty and the right of conscience that will remain with us beyond this year’s elections and current officeholders. (B)The Church of course does not endorse candidates or political parties.”-Sentence B contradicts sentence A
Being American gives you the freedom to practice ANY religion you want….in church and your own home.
I’m an American and I would fight to the death for you to have that right……but not being Catholic, I could care less about the church’s opinion on anything.
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Don – Your last sentence gives you away. (A) “I could care less about the church’s opinion on anything.” (B) then why did you take the time to read the letter and spend additional time to find the presumed faults and write your response. Your action in (B) contradicts your statement (A). It also identifies your motive. Therefore, your preconceived agenda and mean-spiritedness make everything else you say irrelevant.
Oh, and in statement (A) you say you ” could care less”, I believe the proper phrase for the message you were trying so desperately to articulate is, could NOT care less.
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Grammer lesson received and appreciated.
Yes, I could card less but a lot of people do care what the church has to say and the church (like the gentleman said) should stay out of politics….but all through history it never has.
To make myself clear……in politics, I could care less what ANY church/religion has to say.
MY agenda? Preconceived motives?
I think you better read the original letter again as far as that goes. Someone had some motives. Wasn’t me…..I’m just confused to what the problem is. Why did I take the time to read the piece? When the headline states “Religious freedom threatened” , being an American, I was concerned.
I did notice that you pointed out my faults…..but didn’t defend the piece.
Who has a mean-spiritedness agenda? “Not I “said Don.
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Oh Bull honky! This is a man who has never experienced sexual intimacy with a woman or a man for that matter, nor has he had children or been under the responsibility of having children telling us that birth control and access thereof is a matter of religious freedom. Cut the bologna. A woman being able to decide whether to conceive or not has nothing to do with religious freedom. And “mandating” (Oh…I know a dirty word in American ideology) institutions to offer birth control under health insurance at no cost has nothing to do with religious freedom. So stop the rhetoric boys!
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This is far bigger than one issue and it is so subtle and insidious that when it has fully arrived we may all wonder how it got here. We will all, by then, have forgotten the warnings like the one contained in the Padre’s letter above.
Do I really need to make a comprehensive list of all the examples of one’s having never done something, but still being able to make a wise or moral judgement about that thing? If the Bishop happened to agree with you, would you still take issue with his gender, parental or marriage status? Probably wouldn’t even cross your mind if he was supporting you on an issue.
I happen to agree with you in part on the birth control issue but disagree with the so called “mandate” that goes against conscience and religious principles. From a much broader perspective I do see a growing trend of hostility toward evangelical Christians (and even Catholics) because of their stance on many social and moral issues. I don’t see it getting any better unless Christians compromise and conform and these are some rather core beliefs we’re talking about.
Would you be ready to change some of your own basic moral beliefs simply because “everyone else is doing it”, or worse yet…..because the government orders it, under threat of criminal prosecution? It’s coming to that.
You cut the bologna!
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I believe you have mistaken if people are given a choice compared to a mandate. No one has been asked to give up or change any principles. The birth control items in the new health law are choices. You either do or don’t. The fact that a Catholic Hospital “has” to offer these I believe is irrelevant. It is the hospital that takes away the choice. If my wife needs a certain procedure I have to go to Sioux Falls because the local hospital doesn’t perform it because of the hospital principles. And by the way, I’m not talking about abortion.
The hospital changes it’s principles when it comes to money doesn’t it?
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