Archbishop Jose Gomez
The October 21, 2011 edition of The Tidings (The Los Angeles Archdiocese Weekly Newspaper) had a column written by Archbishop Jose H. Gomez entitled, “Defending our first Freedom.” In that article Bishop Gomez takes the position that “we are slowly losing our sense of religious liberty in America.” He doesn’t specifically state it is the Obama Administration that is doing this, but that is my opinion of the situation and it is heavily implied by Gomez.
The article cites a few examples of why Gomez believes this. The first of these is that the federal government denied a request of a grant from the US Bishop’s Migration and Refugee Services Agency. No reason was given for the denial. However, the article states:
“Recently, the government had been demanding that our agency provide abortions, contraception and sterilizations for the women we serve. We hope the decision to deny our application was not because we refused to provide these services that are unnecessary and violate our religious principles.”
The article continues that there are other examples where the federal government is trying to force private employers into providing insurance coverage for these same types of procedures. Gomez continues, “This, of course, would violate the consciences of Catholic business owners and also undermine the religious independence of Church employers.”
Attorney General Holder
I hate to continue, but it gets even worse, and this is the part that upset me the most. According to Gomez church adoption and foster care agencies are shutting down rather than submit to government demands that they place children with same sex couples or provide benefits for same-sex employees. To continue:
“The US Justice Department (under Eric Holder), went on the record this summer saying that those who defend the traditional definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman are motivated by prejudice.”
So, now we Catholics and Christians who believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage are bigots.
Last week, I attended mass with my brother in Coram, New York. This is a traditional blue collar area on Eastern Long Island about 1.5 hours east of Manhattan. During the mass, the priest gave a sermon that became very political. He brought up the same issues that Gomez brought up in this article and said that we cannot sit idly by while our religious freedom is being attacked. I must say that this is the first time I have heard a priest in a Catholic service get overtly political in years. In protestant and non-denominational Christian congregations this happens quite often, but in Catholic services, not so much. In fact, there is case law that says if a preacher uses the pulpit for political purposes, the congregation runs the risk of losing its tax exempt status.
As you all know from my prior writings, I am a firm believer in free speech. I usually do not believe in any restrictions, although I accept the restrictions set forth by the Supreme Court because they are logical. I feel the same way about the Freedom of Religion and the Separation of Church and State. Although, I do have some disagreements with how far the Separation of Church and State has gone. In that regard, the Republican controlled House of Representatives in a symbolic move this week voted to affirm “In God We Trust” as our national motto. I guess they are feeling the same level of heat from the Obama Administration as well.
As a result of all of this, I guess the time has come for a call to action on our part. We cannot sit and watch the fundamental root of our country in the Freedom of Religion to be attacked by this present administration in this matter. If they believe in secularism, fine for them. But, for us Christians and Catholics to be forced to accept abortion and/or sterilization in order to get federal funding, etc., is unconscionable. Do not let this happen.
If Catholic priests and bishops are risking the Church’s tax exempt status to become political, then the threat is real. It is not imagined. In fact, I am beginning to believe that this administration would like to bring us to a secular socialist state sooner rather than later. I scoffed at the earlier claims of this by pundits, but now am seeing it more clearly ever day. These are just a few examples of attacks on our religion. There are many other examples that are far too many to state here.
Suffice it to say that if the current administration remains in power for another four years, we will all be forced to make some tough decisions to retain our freedoms. Speak to people who lived in communist countries. Speak to people who remember the cold war. Let’s now allow it to sneak in here under any guise and especially not by taking away our freedom to express our religious thought however we may see fit.
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This is the tip of the ice berg. It is almost, if not, an absolute that Christianity, religion in general, must be gutted, diminished before it will be possible to trample, diminish and raze our unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. But as we see… “it” is happening. Freedom is not “free.”
America is tinkering with a critical, ominous, menacing, ill-omened moment in its history. Beware the inevitable, for successful popular agitation and support is essential for the….”Occupy” strategy, the “Transformation” of America.
Our beloved Republic will either be resurrected (return to fundamentals) or under currents will grow the rising angst against Christians, Marxists (the necessary economic activities) and Jews (antisemitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist ideas).
“Unless we have the courage to fight for a revival of wholesome reserve between man and man, we shall perish in an anarchy (Emma Goldman variety) of human values… . Socially it means the renunciation of all place-hunting, a break with the cult of the “star,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Things may get so drastic that the “top down” radicalization of the Government (an unstoppable metastasizing Leviathan) will be assisted by the “bottom up” pressure of the anarchists, (beware the radicals in the “occupy” crowd), that the squeeze on the middle class will not produce an alarm, but rather acquiescence, consent, and submission from the “middle class’, not having the courage to embrace “give me liberty or death.” And the question ‘How did we get to this point….again?”
For whom the bell tolls might well be the proclamation. The crack in the Liberty Bell was foreshadowing the dissolution of our Republic should we not embrace the urgent need to “stop” the slow steady advance of radical progressivism, the destruction of individualism through entitlements and the seduction of ObamaCare, the full disaster postponed until after 2014, when, like most entitlements, none will reject, no, we will demand, until we are left to standing in line, awaiting our turn at the crematoriums, wondering what is happening and how we got here.
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” Frederick Douglass.
This was a grant refusal that sparked this debate?
Why do we Americans continue to allow the government to mandate our morality by economic means.
The federal gov should be downsized drastically in many ways, including handing out these styles of grants. This would allow people to actually have money for a change letting them personally fund religions or other non-profits of their choice. It’s an idea that needs to come back – give people the self financial freedom to improve the world as they see fit.
If we keep relying on a nanny-state mentality of the government magnanimously giving our own tax money back to the people, we’ll all follow Greece’s path into bankruptcy. Sadly Obama and almost every GOP candidate don’t seriously answer our debt problem.
Further why should the government be involved in marriage whatsoever? Get the government out of our families, out of our homes. Put marriage back to churches or other non-government institutions that individuals find acceptable.
Why would a church ask for free money from the government?