By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger
In Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man, Stephen Daedalus is asked by his friend Cranly whether, having forsaken Roman Catholicism, he will become a Protestant. “I said I had lost the faith,” he replied, “but not that I had lost selfrespect. What kind of liberation would that be to forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogical and incoherent?”
But God works, as they say, in mysterious ways. A black man, accused of being secretly a Muslim, a socialist and an illegitimate pretender to the presidential throne, has accomplished what all of the post-Vatican II reconciliation committees and joint worship services and inter-faith conferences could not. Rev. Mike Huckabee has declared that Protestants will at last abandon illogic and incoherence. No longer will the Pope be called the Antichrist, nor Holy Mother Church the Whore of Rome. Once again, he says, we are all Catholics. My late Irish grandmother’s faith has been vindicated.
Christians have reunited under the banner of Richard “Coeur de Lion” Santorum to defeat apostasy and reclaim America for Christendom. The enemy this time? An HHS regulation requiring most health insurance plans to include FDA approved forms of contraception in coverage for preventive health services. There is, of course, an exception for churches, but not for religious institutions serving the general public. The outrage has been intense, widespread and misguided.
The newest crusade, like its historical predecessors, is largely fueled by the bad faith of its leaders and the ignorance of its foot soldiers. The President has graciously described the controversy as a difference of opinion between reasonable people, but his comments are undeservedly charitable. The argument that the requirement is an assault on religious freedom is legally frivolous. The suggestion that it raises serious questions under the Free Exercise Clause or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is laughable, unless one is a graduate of the Michele Bachmann School of Constitutional Revisionism and Beauty Culture.
It has never been the law that the First Amendment exempts religion from all civil authority. The First Amendment “embraces two concepts,-freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be.” Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303-304 (1940). Public policy demands have been found to trump freedom of religion in a number of contexts. The Mormon practice of polygamy was long ago held to be subordinate to criminal statutes. Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879). Jehovah Witnesses have been compelled to comply with child labor laws prohibiting the sale of printed materials on public streets by minors. Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944). Bob Jones University was unable to prevent the loss of its tax exempt status despite its religious convictions opposing interracial dating and marriage. Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983). And the courts have frequently ordered the provision of emergency medical care to minors over the religious objections of their parents.
The new regulation implements portions of the Affordable Care Act intended to expand the availability of preventive health services to women by requiring insurance companies to provide coverage for those services. Meeting the public health needs of millions of women pursuant to a grant of legislative authority surely fits any reasonable definition of a compelling governmental interest. And the impact on religious expression? None. Religious institutions are not required to change their moral views on contraception. No woman will be compelled to practice birth control.
But if the regulation does not raise constitutional issues, why all the fuss? The answer is that the reaction is a contrived and cynical political attack for election year consumption by Catholics and right-wing evangelicals. It is an effort to extend the notion of religious expression to include what are clearly non-ministerial functions. It is also part of an effort to further weaken the wall of separation between government and religion. Indeed, the position of the Catholic bishops reinforces my opposition to the entire faith-based initiatives program. How is it that a religious body can assert the propriety of accepting public tax dollars to support what it asserts to be a public function, such as operating a general hospital, and simultaneously insist that the operation of that same hospital is protected religious expression for all other purposes?
The government is obligated to respect the free exercise of religion. Religious bodies engaged in the operation of public facilities are obligated to respect the rights of all employees, including those having incompatible religious beliefs, and to comply with applicable laws. Once this has been made clear to all, Christians can return to warring among themselves.
Mike S.,
So it wasn’t actually a ‘new’ club that Spanky proposed; but a very old club?
Bob,
Thanks for that. Haven’t thought about Our Gang for many years, but I remembered the scene the minute the clip started. The myth then and apparently now is that all young boys hate girls. Perhaps I was precociously hypersexual but I can remember from age 6 being fascinated and attracted to girls. It was around 8 that my parent’s first began to discuss sex with me and I first began to understand the origins of those strange stirrings in my nether regions.
Gene,
One more thing. The right of contraception is inextricably linked to the inalienable right of self ownership and thus will always trump a civil right afforded to an institution such as free exercise.
W=C, still
I agree.
anon nurse
1, February 18, 2012 at 8:53 am
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It is so (not even uniquely so), that you can not deliver ‘care’ by judgement. As a nurse I learned my job was to care for patients and assist them to overcome illness…not judge them. It is an objective duty best practiced with compassion and that objectiveness has been corroded over the past 20 years by the profiteers on one side and the religious zealots on the other. Neither have a right to the discussion. And if you want a quick outcome to this ridiculous circus just point out to the Catholic hospitals that if they take insurance money or gov grants for anything they are already drinking from a poison well and if they are taking any money at all for healthcare delivery then they are the poison. And to the politicians….if they are acting as advocate to anyone or anything in healthcare that is serving up illness or it’s source (poverty, exploitatoin, theft, malfeasance,corruption, disdain, selective delivery,…etc) that they should find another profession.
It isn’t about abortion if the baby is already dead….
I mean, can one say up their rights, on some condition of recompense?
Then we could remove the effect of the 5th and require signing of a contract as a pre-requisite to elected office.
THEN, we could bring out the polygraph for periodic testing.
This could be coupled to guaranteed immunity if cause for prosecution were detected; conditioned on the immediate voluntary separation from his/her service. Employment within government and or corporations would be banned for five years. Corporations employing such persons, after the ban period, would be required to list them in their annual reports, and mark all advertisements with an icon of dishonor. Employment requiring public trust would also be banned for life.
McKochalds would be encharged with providing employment dispensing meals garbed in a special uniform of dishonor. Many might choose retirement instead.
“This is NOT about contraception.. and you all know it. It is about abortion.It is the “next” step in MANDATED care that must be provided by Catholic Hospitals, etc –here young lady, take this pill and you will feel 8 pounds thinner soon!”
Nothing like a passing troll to bring this thread back on track. The argument presented by certain religionists may feature contraception and abortion as buzzwords to rally the flock, but the aim is about controlling women. This is the old religious tradition of keeping women in their place. Its’ history goes back to the writing of the Torah, done by a nomadic tribe, living in a patriarchal world. The traditions of almost all of the BCE world were that women we chattels and marriage a system of wealth transference and political expediency. The only saving grace for this patriarchy was that at least within marriage the sexual satisfaction of both partners was equally important.
Early Christianity was egalitarian as records from its inception that escaped purposeful destruction attest. There are even scholarly proponents that believe Mary Magdalene was not only the wife of Jesus, but his most trusted confidant. Christianity began to be formalized at the Council of Nicaea 325 CE and with that formalization began a melding of both Roman paganism and original Christian concepts. The Romans were a licentious, patriarchal society and there was a large branch of Christian Bishops who saw women as sexual temptresses and who were decidedly misogynistic. These views ultimately triumphed and blended into the mainstream of Christianity. Essentially Jesus was raised to co-equal Godhood, but his teachings as detailed in the Gospels were subsumed by Paul’s theological perspective.
When it comes to Islam, the second religion derived from Jewish tradition, its Prophet Mohammed’s original teachings regarding women were more egalitarian than the patriarchal traditions of the Arab peoples, but with his death it reverted back to the areas native patriarchy. And so it goes.
The attempts to repress women’s rights and make them second class citizens again rages today, after all the progress made in the last century has struck fear into the heart of sexually insecure males. It interests me that these are in general men of such flagging willpower when it comes to their sexual nature, that they require universal rules to diminish the power of women’s sexuality. These are men threatened by women as powerful as themselves and thus seek religious and legal means to repress women’s natural aspirations for equality. Secondary to this, comes the fear of homosexuality and the preoccupation with its “evils” by a class of men whose own sexual nature may well be ambiguous and frightening.
When we look at the RCC, for instance, given it’s pedophilia scandal, it seems to me that the need to find sexual fulfillment with children is indicative of an immature/uncontrollable sexuality that fears interaction of its impulses on an adult level. However, this misogynist outlook is not limited to the RCC,
since many Christian Sects have the diminution of women’s status as tenets of faith. Perhaps it is my psychotherapeutic training that prejudices my mindset, but I can’t help but see this issue in terms of male sexual immaturity translating the objects of their fear into almost demons (from both a heterosexual and homosexual viewpoint) that must be controlled at all costs, to keep themselves from succumbing to their perceived “sinful” natures.
This is NOT about contraception.. and you all know it. It is about abortion.It is the “next” step in MANDATED care that must be provided by Catholic Hospitals, etc –here young lady, take this pill and you will feel 8 pounds thinner soon!
I have HAD IT with ALL (100%) of the politicians. Is anyone aware of a religion that condones “honor floggings” for all pols? 3 floggings — when elected, at mid-term, and when they leave office (with their suitcase of cash).
The following article is a bit old, but raises some interesting issues:
http://www.albionmonitor.com/9804a/blockwomen.html
(If hospitals can’t or won’t provide the services which meet the health needs of their clients, perhaps it’s time for them to get out of the business…)
mespo,
As long as it’s not a felony, feel free to blame anything you need to on me with Suzanne. It’s not the first time a friend has blamed something on me to the wife, I’m sure it won’t be the last. Since it’s very often true, I really don’t mind. 😀
“Most recently, we’ve been treated to a new round of a battle over birth control, as the debate over whether employees at religiously affiliated institutions should be required to receive insurance that covers birth control without a co-payment…” (refer to link below)
If this dispute boils down to a co-payment, which generally only covers a portion of the cost of a drug or medication, then the debate is really about money. The question at hand seems to be whether the insurance company or hospital (if self-insured) pays the full amount or only a portion of the cost. Any religious issues are simply a smokescreen, it would seem, if this really boils down to the assumption of a co-payment by a patient.
———–
“4 States Where Right-Wingers Are Promoting Shocking Measures to Keep Women Barefoot and Pregnant”
http://www.alternet.org/story/154197/4_states_where_right-wingers_are_promoting_shocking_measures_to_keep_women_barefoot_and_pregnant?page=entire
“The birth control skirmish is not the only regressive, anti-woman, anti-science battle being waged in this country.”
February 18, 2012 |
“It’s been an exhausting few weeks for reproductive rights supporters. Most recently, we’ve been treated to a new round of a battle over birth control, as the debate over whether employees at religiously affiliated institutions should be required to receive insurance that covers birth control without a co-payment — a right employees of all other U.S. companies will have under the Obama administration’s new healthcare law — rages on in Washington.”
(and the article continues)
Blouise,
He doesn’t listen to his mother now. But neither did Jesus, when Mary and his brothers came to fetch him home, as he was mentally ill, they felt.
Jim,
Let’s start with you, the oh so 10% says the Bible man.
Where did you get your income. From fleecing your flock. In service to mankind as you claim all Christians do.
And what was your contribution? 10%?
Jim,
says: “We had a perfect universe until Eve gave in to temptation. That was her choice and then Adam’s. That it is why Paul said I crucify my flesh daily. Our flesh strives to have its way but we walk by the spirit and feed the spirit daily.”—————–
So why did you leave Jonestown?
So complete and total racial suicide would please God?
Free will: Some brands say all is pre-determined. Not even any wiggle-room.
So after 700 years of writing the old testament down in the Temple’s back rooms, 1600 years of creation and editing the new testament, and 2000 years getting the priests to shut up so the unique brand——–and you believe yours is holy, divinely inspired, inalterable, infallible, a literal expression of all of the universe, etc.etc.
Amazing how delusions overpower rationality.
PS Have you crucified your flesh today? That means you did IT beforehand.
You nasty boy. Cut it off. You remember what JC said about your eye offending you and adventuring your soul.
Rafflaw and Jim,
Raff said: 40 per cent of $20 million in income would be donations of $8 million. Where is the evidence?
Jim anticipated reply: Grace has the deposit slip. Ask her.
Gene H.
Better living through contraception. Apologies to Dupont
My condom or your pessar?
Pullout is xx % successful. Feel like gambling tonight?
She: What are you wearing? He: You. She: Oh well. (Courtesy Assange)
For girls: Mine is guarded by a rubber sniffer.
Planning is important in life. Think contraception! Courtesy your bank.
Contraception: A winner for all persons, even weenie ones.
For girls: The red spot on my nose means I’m safe tonight (Popular!!!!)
For girls: Of course! Do you have to ask?
For girls: My bishop will not bless me
For girls: Holy Mary! See what anti-contraception got her.
For all: Holy Mary! Screwed by God. And now bishops on us.
See what bare-backing got Assange.
For guys: I will if you haven’t.
Etc, etc.———–
The right of the author is asserted and incorrectly cited, etc.
Oops maybe this will work; if not you all know how to look it up.
reproductiverights.org/en/document/catholic-charities-of-the-diocese-of-albany-et-al-v-serio-court-of-appeals-opinion
Thank-you Mike A. and all above for this is a great thread.
In the difference of opinion between Gene H. and Bob esq. I’m with Gene.
The Catholic Bishops have been down this road before and LOST.
The NY Leg. passed the Women’s Health & Wellness Act which (among other services) mandated that employer insurance plans which offered covered prescriptive medicines as benefits must include coverage for contraceptives. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany joined by some Baptist’s org. brought suit in 2002; with the same argument, that this requirement was an infringement on their religious freedom. In 2003 the NY Supreme dismissed the complaint upholding the act as constitutional. The divided appellate affirmed the original decision in 2006. Appealing once again the NY Court of Appeals affirmed the decision and preserved the WHWA as constitutional. The SCOTUS decided not to consider the challenge in2007.
reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Catholic Charities v. Serio – NY Ct of Appeals Decision.pdf
Jim, are you the same Jim that was posting the same bitchy statement about illegal aliens getting free medical care to some of the threads yesterday? Just wondering.
“Jim
1, February 16, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I wonder since Obama is requiring all of us to purchase health insurance if he will also require Illegal Immigrants to be turned in when they go to the hospital so that they do not get FREE Healthcare. What a tragedy, Americans have to pay and illegals get it for free.”
Jim
1, February 17, 2012 at 3:25 pm
I pay taxes and do not use contraception.
359 Elaine M.
1, February 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Jim,
Then you’re just like me–a liberal woman!
————–
Elaine, a real LOL moment there, Thank you. And thank you for the great links in this thread and other threads over the last several days.
Jim,
“When a question arises between Man’s law and God’s law, we always follow God. That is why we believe abortion is wrong. You are just like Satan. Using scripture but not using it correctly”
=================
abortion IS wrong. And no woman or child should ever be put in the position of having to need one. Ever. BUT AS LONG AS THE WORLD IS IMPERFECT …and it will blessed with imperfection (and therefor existance) as long as I live and as long as your grandchildren live.., and hopefully thier grandchildren, .then you have no right to batter, impregnate, mislead or commit theft from me or any other woman and use G*d as some flimsy willing excuse and accomplice in absentia….against my will. And if you do….GOD, by granting me free will, has allowed my life to continue sans oppression by way of abortion, and to protect myself, by way of contra-uninvitedfuction. Because my G*d is a Living G*d and not just a dusty old pile of papers….your application of the bible is like a judas-goat leading the flock to the abatoire.
Heres a thought….quit catering to the fat-ass 1% and forcing the rest of the world to try to have and raise children in a state of terror and want….afraid there won’t be healthcare, afraid there won’t be a roof over their heads, afraid to speak up to local law enforcement, afraid to speak up to an abusive usurious boss…..your attitude is stale. The Bible even directs people to quickly solve problems….which may be the true root of the Onan story….his refusal to come to terms unless he got his own way.
and Dude, your blaming Eve…hahahahahaha! you don’t even know who she is…..;)
Jim,
Keep your God in church, where she belongs!