Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Last night in Indianapolis, Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput gave a speech to a group of Catholic journalists on the eve of the “Fortnight for Freedom,” a national campaign of teaching, witness, and prayer in favor of religious freedom and against the HHS mandate requiring religious institutions to purchase insurance policies that violate the doctrines they uphold.
A well-funded public relations campaign against the bishops deriding them as partisan (only when they oppose the mandate; not, for instance, when they support Obama's immigration order) has been adopted by much of the mainstream media.
The latest meme is that the bishops' campaign is funded by the high rollers at the Knights of Columbus. If it's so well funded, I want to know why they couldn't afford a savvier campaign them than "Fortnight of Freedom." It's not quite Madison Avenue, is it.
But this speech by Chaput is a fantastic brief overview of the major issues and why they're important. I encourage everyone to read it whether or not they're already in support of religious freedom campaigns such as this one or not. Religious liberty, it's worth remembering, protects everyone -- no matter what your precise views on the divine are. It's rather continuously under attack in big ways and small throughout the world and the United States hasn't been an exception.
What's great about the U.S. is that we've always had a broad array of religious groups willing to step in and help each other when their religious liberty is under attack. We're seeing that now with this mandate because Lutherans, Jews, Muslims, Baptists and others see that the HHS mandate redefines what a religious entity is and that has drastic implications for all of us.
Chaput's speech tells us that 1) religious freedom is a cornerstone of the American experience:
Gertrude Himmelfarb, the historian, put it this way: The founders knew that in a republic, “virtue is intimately related to religion. However skeptical or deistic they may have been in their own beliefs, however determined they were to avoid anything like an established Church, they had no doubt that religion is an essential part of the social order because it is a vital part of the moral order.”
2) Freedom of religion is more than freedom of worship.
The right to worship is a necessary but not sufficient part of religious liberty. Christian faith requires community. It begins in worship, but it also demands preaching, teaching, and service. It’s always personal but never private.
3) Threats against religious freedom in our country are not imaginary. They’re happening right now. They’re immediate, serious, and real.
When religious belief gets redefined downward to a kind of private bias, then the religious identity of institutional ministries has no public value–other than the utility of getting credulous people to do good things. So exempting Catholic adoption agencies, for example, from placing kids with gay couples becomes a concession to private prejudice. And concessions to private prejudice feed bigotry and hurt the public. Or so the reasoning goes. This is how moral teaching and religious belief end up getting hounded as hate speech.
4) Unless we work hard to keep our religious liberty, we’ll lose it.
It’s already happening in other developed countries like Britain and Canada. The U.S. Constitution is a great document–historically unique for its fusion of high ideals with the realism of very practical checks and balances. But in the end, it’s just an elegant piece of paper. In practice, nothing guarantees our freedoms except our willingness to fight for them. That means fighting politically and through the courts, without tiring and without apologies. We need to realize that America’s founding documents assume an implicitly religious anthropology–an idea of human nature, nature’s God, and natural rights–that many of our leaders no longer really share. We ignore that unhappy fact at our own expense.
Chaput's final point is that "religious liberty is an empty shell if the spiritual core of a people is weak. Or to put it more bluntly, if people don’t believe in God, religious liberty isn’t a value." He has some harsh words for Catholic bishops and other leadership and members of the church. He reminds them what they're called to do. He ends:
Scripture says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well” (Mt 6:33). We work best for religious freedom by first opening our hearts to God’s will instead of our own; and loving our country and our Church; and renewing the witness of the Church with the zeal and purity and obedience of our own lives. That freedom, that joy, no one can ever take from us.
From the cross at San Damiano, Jesus said to Francis: Repair my house, which is falling into ruin. Those same words fill this room tonight. How we respond is up to us.
It's a great speech to kick off this, uh, fortnight for liberty. Even if you're a hardcore Lutheran such as myself.
We certainly didn't want this fight or even expect our federal government to go after us. But they did. We have no choice about how to respond, just as many of our ancestors have had to do at the local, state and federal level in years past.
So: what will you be doing during the next two weeks to help Catholics and others who are fighting to practice their faith in accordance with the teachings of their church?
- Comment (12)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
This is wonderful, and epic. The Catholic Church and many other leaders of faith have finally recognized that secular 'progressives' and socialism generally are anathema to belief in God. State power yearns to replace God and subvert faith, particularly as technology advances. The mass of people are easily deceived if they don't have access to Scripture.
I pray we're not too late to the game. State power appears to be ascendent everywhere, but looks can be deceiving.
Edited on June 21, 2012 at 3:15pmJan '11
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
First is to pray. Always first. (Check)
Second, I notify my representatives and email the White House that I support the campaign for religious liberty. (Check)
Third, when you're trying to convince others of any argument, it's important to start by connecting the dots. If you can give a step by step roadmap of the ideas involved, and show how each one is connected, and do it clearly, then you've giving others the neural pathway to reach the same conclusion.
In this case, it's useful to reflect on the different parts of the religious liberty argument, and try to express them in our own words. Ricochet can help as we do that, but it's also useful to take the lessons learned in those conversations and join other conversations - word of mouth is still the best weapon in politics.
If it's all the same to you, I'd rather save the violins and "moving" TV ads for later.
Jun '10
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Chaput also makes the point that the Church got lazy. It got distracted by, and even invested in, America's fast-changing secular culture. I imagine, from those outside the Church, the question is, "why are you all of a sudden interested in protecting Catholicism? You didn't seem too concerned about it before." That's true. We did wait till the wolves were at the door, but...they're at the door.
Edited on June 21, 2012 at 3:42pmMay '12
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
I understand, respect, and support the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception. I know this is an important issue, but there are far greater threats to freedom, religious and otherwise, from the leviathan federal gov't.
I think the Catholic Church will have a much more attentive, supportive, and enthusiastic audience for the cause of freedom when they are as vocal and unified on issues beyond contraception.
Edited on June 21, 2012 at 4:18pmJun '11
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: 3) Threats against religious freedom in our country are not imaginary. They’re happening right now. They’re immediate, serious, and real.
So: what will you be doing during the next two weeks . . .
Well, it won't happen in the next two weeks(!), but we need to mount a conservative takeover of public education at all levels (and probably private and parochial too). The idea that religious belief is merely a private prejudice and therefore not worth defending is now deeply embedded in the minds of young people after a generation of educational malpractice. These young people will soon be running things, which means it will get worse before it gets better.
Jan '11
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
BrentB67:
I think the Catholic Church will have a much more attentive, supportive, and enthusiastic audience for the cause of freedom when they are as vocal and unified on issues beyond contraception.
It isn't about contraception, although contraception was the trigger.
The most offensive part is that HHS declared that freedom of religion extends only to worship. All of the works of the church (hospitals, schools, adoption agencies, etc.) are as "religious" as worship ... but the HHS policy says they aren't. The religious exemption should cover them, but HHS says it doesn't.
And let's be clear - the word "exemption' is sometimes used as if the government was doing someone a "favor." No. In this case, exemption means that because of the first amendment protection of religion, the regulating agency has no right to impose regulations that restrict religious freedom.
Jun '10
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
BrentB67: I understand, respect, and support the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception. I know this is an important issue, but there are far greater threats to freedome, religious and otherwise, from the leviathan federal gov't.
I think the Catholic Church will have a much more attentive, supportive, and enthusiastic audience for the cause of freedom when they are as vocal and unified on issues beyond contraception.
Who says it's about contraception? If a school bully made your kid eat dog poop, does that make it a poop issue, a hygiene issue, or is it a bullying issue?
May '12
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Mel Foil
BrentB67: I understand, respect, and support the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception. I know this is an important issue, but there are far greater threats to freedome, religious and otherwise, from the leviathan federal gov't.
I think the Catholic Church will have a much more attentive, supportive, and enthusiastic audience for the cause of freedom when they are as vocal and unified on issues beyond contraception.
Who says it's about contraception? If a school bully made your kid eat dog poop, does that make it a poop issue, a hygiene issue, or is it a bullying issue? · 15 minutes ago
If the issue of requiring contraception to be covered by health plans had not come up and HHS not extended the over reach of Obamacare would the Catholic Church be taking forceful public positions on religious freedom? The assaults on religious freedom discussed here didn't just crop up this year.
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
BrentB67
Mel Foil
BrentB67: I understand, respect, and support the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception. I know this is an important issue, but there are far greater threats to freedome, religious and otherwise, from the leviathan federal gov't.
I think the Catholic Church will have a much more attentive, supportive, and enthusiastic audience for the cause of freedom when they are as vocal and unified on issues beyond contraception.
Who says it's about contraception? If a school bully made your kid eat dog poop, does that make it a poop issue, a hygiene issue, or is it a bullying issue?
If the issue of requiring contraception to be covered by health plans had not come up and HHS not extended the over reach of Obamacare would the Catholic Church be taking forceful public positions on religious freedom? The assaults on religious freedom discussed here didn't just crop up this year.
Actually, the assaults on religious freedom discussed here cropped up last year and evangelicals and Catholics and others hopped on it right away.
I mean, I wish they'd thought about this while pushing Obamacare, yes, but they're consistent on this front.
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Mel Foil
Who says it's about contraception? If a school bully made your kid eat dog poop, does that make it a poop issue, a hygiene issue, or is it a bullying issue? · 2 hours ago
Stealing this.
Jun '10
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Mel Foil
Who says it's about contraception? If a school bully made your kid eat dog poop, does that make it a poop issue, a hygiene issue, or is it a bullying issue? · 2 hours ago
Stealing this. · 27 minutes ago
It's yours. :)
Mar '12
Re: Huge Religious Freedom Campaign Begins Today
The Archbishop reads like a successor to the Apostles, and not like an administrator. We'll need a lot of the former and few of the latter.
I one hope that they stop looking and sounding like Democrats with mitres.