They’re kidding, really. Aren’t they? Surely they can’t be serious. Surely the R’s haven’t just delivered themselves, lock, stock and barrel into the pockets of the Catholic Bishops.
OK. They have. They are R’s, after all.
The Obama Administration recently raised the ire of the Catholic Bishops by issuing a mandate that all religious institutions, with the exception of the churches themselves, must provide their employees with health insurance that will provide them, free of charge, with contraception. This, the Bishops say, is a direct violation of freedom of religion.
The question becomes…whose freedom are we talking about? We understand whose freedom the Catholic hierarchy is talking about…their own freedom to dictate to the flock on their sexual practices. Unfortunately, the flock hasn’t been listening. In fact, the flock has never listened to the hierarchy on this issue. Ninety-eight percent of sexually active Catholic women use contraceptives. While the hierarchy has declared that procreation is the only reason for sexual activities…well, rank and file Catholics seem to have found other reasons.
This has not stopped the R’s from rushing to embrace the Bishops and their position. We should not be surprised. The R’s embrace nearly anyone or anything who opposes President Obama. One of the R’s leading Presidential candidates (yes, you, Rick Santorum) believes that contraception should be outlawed entirely for everyone. In fact the R’s seem ready to embrace anyone who will help them appeal to their religious wing nut base. And even though the President has now offered a common sense compromise (a word not in the R’s dictionary) some R’s are calling it an “accounting trick”.
And this again causes us to call into question the R’s ability to count. There are roughly 200 Catholic Bishops in this country. There are 77 million members of the Catholic Church, the vast majority of who totally ignore the hierarchy’s position on this issue. On the insurance issue, 58% of Catholics agree with the President, not the Bishops. And this leaves out women…Catholic and non-Catholic…who once again see old white men trying to take from them the basic right to do with their bodies as they choose.
We doubt seriously that the R’s are going to enjoy this particular ride. We have some experience with the Catholic hierarchy. The pocket of the Catholic Bishops isn’t exactly a pleasant place to be. It isn’t exactly the most upright group you could find either…just ask the victims of priestly sexual abuse and the Bishops who hid them from public view for decades. And, at a time when AIDS was ravaging the gay community and spreading beyond, the Bishops refused to set aside their ban on condoms even when people were dying. The R’s will discover that, while they may wish to take the country back to the 1950’s, the Bishops want to go back to another century entirely…the 12th.
As for the Bishops, they should learn one simple precept. You no playa da game, you no makea da rules.
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