[Buddha-l] Check out The Right's Stupidity Spreads

[sjziobro at cs.com]

Jack,
 

 I understood the deep structure of Richard's comment to refer to a situation where the U.S. Government is forcing a religious entity and its adherents to provide resources for an enterprise to which it objects on religious and moral grounds.  Structurally, this observations shares a parity with what the U.S. Government under an HHS mandate is demanding of Catholic institutions and believers.  I would agree that, on the surface, paying taxes for purposes of war is not the same as providing birth control, but the key is the violation of the free expression of a rightly formed conscience, and this whether on an individual or communal level.

The Catholic bishops offered a response on January 10 of this year to President Obama's expressed compromise solution.  It can be located at http://www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-026.cfm.  It is the view of the bishops that this compromise is not an actual compromise since the mandate actually still applies in a more disguised form for religious organizations and applies unchanged for non-religious entities whose people nonetheless find the mandate intrusive and objectionable.  The issue is fundamentally one centering on the freedom of religion and religious practice, not whether one agrees with the appearances and substance of any particular religious ethos, doctrine, or involvement in the civil sphere.  As such, this seems to me a valid concern for all, even scholars of religion in its various manifestations.

Regards,

Stan

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jackhat1 <Jackhat1 at aol.com>
To: buddha-l <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Sun, Feb 12, 2012 12:35 pm
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Check out The Right's Stupidity Spreads


Stan, I still don't understand what the State is forcing the Catholic  
Church or Catholics to do. Please say more about this forcing issue. I  think 
Richards's comment is a different issue and one I understand.
 
Jack
 
 
In a message dated 2/12/2012 11:25:59 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
sjziobro at cs.com writes:

I rather  appreciated Richard's remarks vis-a-vis his Quaker faith and the 
U.S.  Government using his tax dollars for purposes to which he is 
fundamentally  opposed.  In fact, I would even say that Richard is in the right  

here.  The government is seeking to force Catholic institutions, which  are 
precisely Catholic and founded on Catholic principles, to operate on  premises 
and mores contrary to the Catholic Faith.  This is a huge  intrusion of the 
State upon the constitutionally guaranteed free exercise of  religion.  As 
such this opens the door to State intrusion in all  religious matters, and 
intruding whether or not they pertain to  Catholics.  This is the point, and 
not whether the Catholic Church holds  positions with which you agree.  How is 
the State here doing anything  differently from what you protest about the 
Catholic Church?  The fact is  that we are not living in 1954 and artificial 
birth control is readily  available to whomever wants to procure  it.

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