Church being crushed by the State?

Dear Kenny,

There ya go! Not being consistent again. The conservative right, the people you love, just have a hard time aligning behind any consistent principle.

What's the issue? The mandate in the new national health care law that requires employers that provide health insurance with a prescription plan, to include coverage for contraceptive health products. What's the problem? The Catholic Church says (a group of Bishops) that requiring them to provide contraceptive health care in their sectarian business endeavors like hospitals and such, is against the tenants of the church and the law is a violation of their first amendment rights.

Bull shit! One right the Catholic Church or any other church does not have, is the right to dictate national policy. Yes, our constitution protects religious freedom. Our citizens have the right to practice their religion but they don't have the right to force their religious tenants on others.

Their counter argument is that they do not object to non-Catholics using contraceptives, they just feel like it violates their tenants for the Church to buy those services for anyone. Its a good point, BUT...

The Catholic Church has a long history of violating its own tenants. Just research their role during World War II and their relationship with Hitler. But lets say that everyone sins and we all seek forgiveness, yet we can not plan to sin, that is purchase contraceptives. Government has always recognized that the First Amendment does not allow it to legislate new tenants for any religion and it has also recognized that Churches undertake sectarian roles in our society and are outside the protection of their First Amendment religious rights. So, the Church has never lived up to its own tenants due to external forces and government has rarely extended their rights to their sectarian endeavors. There are already 28 states that have the same requirements as those being protested without response from the Catholic Church.

Let me give you an example. My second son was born in a Catholic hospital. We decided that after our second child we were done having children. She wanted to get her tubes tied. We of course, were not Catholic. Our Doctor wasn't either. We were in the Catholic hospital because of the quality of their birthing facilities.

The Doctor's plan was to birth our son in the Catholic hospital and move over to the Methodist hospital for the tubal ligation. That didn't happen. So in comes this hospital administrator. "Would you sign this document that says it would give you great mental stress and anguish if you had another child?" She said, "Of course."

Now, what does the Church accomplish with allowing women to certify they will go off the deep end if you do not allow them to violate the Church's tenants on procreation? Probably applying common sense in today's world to the guidelines for living a better spiritual life.

The Church has done it for years and they will always do it. They will set the Church standards in their tenants and the Church will always fall short in its implementation due to circumstances outside the Church's control. That's life. That's Hitler in WWII and that's birth control in the current century.

So what is all the hubbub? It is the radical right blowing another issue up to their advntage (though in this case I don't think its to their advantage). The same peole that want to legislate a prohibition to Sharia Law is not complaining about the President's attack on mother church. Hmmm...inconsistant.

Your Frustrated Brother