Religious Liberty

and George Washington

The oldest Jewish synagogue and congregation in America is in Newport Rhode Island. Touro Synagogue. George Washington wrote a very famous letter vowing to them his commitment to preserving religious liberty in the new Republic. They cherish this letter and read it every year in August (at the height of Newport tourist boating season to a crowd) http://www.tourosynagogue.org/index.php/history-learning/gw-letter

The commitment to Religious Liberty is so foundational to our founding, if that's not a redundancy, because the first immigrants largely fled religious persecution and wanted to live in peace and freedom- meaning simply, not locked up for their beliefs. Freedom has come to mean a lot of things as politicians distort its meaning and language to suit their purposes- like Freedom for Iraqis which meant an invasion and occupation and massive slaughter. Nice going, Freedom.

But religious freedom meant something different in America than anywhere- particularly anywhere in Europe where camps of particular religions established themselves in towns so that if you were not the right religion for the particular town or region, you couldn't really make a living and ended up destitute or worse, doing criminal things to eat, or just locked up for not paying fines for not attending religious services (such as Anglicans imposed against Catholics under a penal regime if you can imagine) or just plain slaughtered in territorial power grabs.

That is why in America every major religion has cherished this Freedom of Religion thing, held it as close to their heart as a priest carrying an exposed eucharist, and understood that this was the hill that they would die on if they had to. The 'Becket' Fund that is fighting the health care litigation is named after a legitimate Martyr in the ecclesiastical conflict with the State of his day.
There could not be an issue that touches more on what the church is about than the fight against abortion in America in this century. The annual March for Life this year packed the Verizon Center with spill over into the RFK Stadium even on a gray rainy day and another crowd packed the Shrine and Saint Matthews. The reversal of the cultural acceptance of abortion is a Number 1 priority of the Bishops in this country -has been for years- and they devote massive amounts of resources, time and energy to trying to get the message out to young people and women about the real hazards and life interests at stake. Catholic lay people fund and work in pregnancy centers, they run post abortive counseling services and have 'pro life' offices or efforts in virtually every parish.
So there could not be a more In Your Face affront to the Bishops - catholic clergy everywhere in America, than over the forced coverage of drugs that cause abortions or contraceptions even.
The wink wink nudge nudge so called 'compromise' in which insurance companies allegedly pick up the tab just means they pass the cost back in raised premium prices. Everyone has figured that one out already- if the Government can't pay for it, insurance companies are not going to eat it- they have to pass the cost on somewhere and it is to the insureds. That is why you hear comments like 'cynical political ploy' or 'accounting gimmick' describing the compromise and the Bishops are not fooled. It is still an In Your Face move.

The Reproductive Liberty, so called is not threatened by having to buy your own abortion drugs. So there really is no competition of rights here. First of all, an abortion is always elective.
So is contraception. Heck, sex is elective. It is not mandatory. Especially when you are not married and the guy hasn't even paid for dinner yet. Not mandatory. Not even particularly always smart.
Should premiums have to be raised because women believe nose jobs necessary and your local catholic hospital has to cover it because a really bad large nose will destroy a woman's self esteem which leads to obesity then diabetis? You could take this argument anywhere.

The women who have been brain washed and hoodwinked by the capitalizing Planned Parenthood abortion milliners into thinking that it is their right to abort with morning after pills for the debauched evening where they wish they didn't let it get that far so use such pills as birth control should not be subsidized by people with a brain. Sorry to be so blunt- but why is the government insisting on subsidizing stupidity? I do not believe 98 percent of catholic women or all women use birth control. First of all, all catholic women are not sleeping with people before they get married. Some do have virtue and common sense. Secondly, some do practice the old fashioned head-ache or rhythym method. Some have husbands with jobs and travel. Everyone is not on birth control, nor does everyone want to be.

Any legislative fiat that declared contraception 'preventative' should be required to clarify which types. Condoms can prevent AIDS- pills don't. The overgeneralizations of definitions are obscuring the argument.

Lastly, why is a private billion dollar monopolistic corporation, Planned Parenthood getting a red cent from the government, or from insurance companies under a federal mandate at all?
You have to really wonder where we have all gone off the rails and where are your cahoonas
being bullied around by Planned Parenthood like that?

I find Donald Wuerl to be about as warm and fuzzy as a popcycle in Siberia and slightly more machavellian than a Medici-I don't like that they scheduled the Bishops conference to dovetail with the CPAC conference in the same hotel in Washington-I think he is running for Pope and while I have no evidence to support it think he would throw his grandmother under the bus to get the ring everyone kisses- but I am standing with all the Bishops on this one.
Because if you don't- then they can shred up George Washington's letter to the Newport Touro Synagogue.