-- The First Amendment disallows the federal government from "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion. Obama's mandates when it comes to health care has even crossed that line, now. . .
Roman Catholic leaders criticise Barack Obama over healthcare
Roman Catholic leaders have furiously criticised President Barack Obama for approving new regulations that compel religious organisations to include morning-after pills and other contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage.
Bishop: New Mandate Goes Against Catholicism
A new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is causing a lot of controversy within the Catholic church.
Bishops from across the country, including right here in South Dakota, say the rule compromises religious freedom.
Hundreds of thousands of Catholics attended mass across the country Sunday, and many were told about the new healthcare mandate that religious leaders believe is a violation of the church's beliefs.
"It's a core issue of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience, Bishops all across the country are responding in the same way because we feel as if our freedom of religion, our ability to live out the church teachings are being compromised by this regulation that's come out of the department of human services," Bishop Paul Swain with the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese said.
The new mandate requires all employers that provide health insurance, including faith-based ones, to provide and pay for all forms of contraception, including birth control. Swain says the mandate strikes at the very core of the country's rights.
Archbishop to U.S. Troops: Obamacare Reg ‘Is a Blow to a Freedom...for Which You Have Seen Your Buddies Fall in Battle’
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, wrote a letter to be read at all Sunday Masses for U.S. military personnel around the world that said that a regulation issued by the Obama Administration under the new federal health care law was “a blow” to a freedom that U.S. troops have not only fought to defend but for which some have recently died in battle.
“It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle,” the archbishop wrote.
Another line in his letter said: “We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.”
The message from the archbishop touched off a controversy both in and outside the military when the Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains told the service's senior chaplains that Catholic priests serving as Army chaplains should be told not to read the archbishop's letter from the pulpit.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services has described that move as a violation of the archbishop's First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of the Catholic chaplains involved and their congregations.
The regulation the archbishop spoke about was finalized by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Jan. 20. It mandates that all health-care plans in the United States cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions. A “religious” employer exemption included in the regulation only applies to organizations that primarily focus on inculcating the tenets of the church in question, primarily employ members of the church, primarily serve members of the church, and is organized under the section of the Internal Revenue Code used by actual parishes.
Catholic hospitals, universities and charitable institutions would not be exempt from the regulation, nor would Catholic individuals, business owners, or insurers.
Pa. Bishop Does Not Recant Saying that Hitler And Mussolini 'Would Love Our (Public School) System'
The Catholic bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., has apologized for offending anyone with his recent comments that Hitler and Mussolini “would love” the public school system in Pennsylvania, because it is similar to what they sought to create in their totalitarian states.
But in a statement issued by the diocese of Harrisburg, Bishop Joseph McFadden did not retract comments he made during an interview on Jan. 24 with WHTM-TV, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg.
The bishop made a comparison between the interests of the public school system and totalitarianism, while discussing what he sees as a lack of school choice in Pennsylvania.
“In the totalitarian government, they would love our system,” McFadden said. “This is what Hitler and Mussolini and all them tried to establish -- a monolith; so all the children would be educated in one set of beliefs and one way of doing things.”
McFadden’s comments drew immediate criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union – which complained that the bishop had raised the specter of the Holocaust.
"We respect the Bishop and his position in the Church. We appreciate his commitment the education of children and the viability of Catholic schools. However, he should not be making his point at the expense of the memory of six million Jews and millions of others who perished in the Holocaust," Barry Morrison, Eastern Pennsylvania/Southern New Jersey regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
"The Holocaust was a unique experience. It does not lend itself to inappropriate analogies. We have an obligation to protect the memory of those who suffered because of it from those who would distort it and undermine and trivialize the history of the Holocaust, however inadvertently. Our role should be to honor those who fought to defeat the murderous Nazis, and not to inappropriately draw reckless comparisons."
Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments
Donohue Says 70 Million Of His Voters Ready To Alter Presidential Election
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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