The church and free speech

[Valin]

Mpls Star Tribune:

View 1

Catholic leaders will not be silenced
JASON ADKINS
October 4, 2011

t is not surprising to see the Star Tribune continue to beat the drum in opposition to the marriage protection amendment that will appear on the November 2012 ballot ("On gay marriage, state is out of step," Oct. 1).

What is troubling is the paper's attack on the Catholic Church's participation in the public debate -- an attack that should concern all Minnesotans as out of step with this country's most cherished traditions of free speech and religious liberty.

The Star Tribune sees in the church the specter of a looming theocracy, but this could not be further from reality. The church only proposes; she imposes nothing.

Legislators and the public are free to accept or reject her witness, and Catholics who participate in the public square are fully conscious that they must make arguments that are persuasive to people of faith and those outside religious communities.

So why are some eager to silence the church's voice?

The church's public witness in helping to shape a public order that is just, protects authentic rights, serves the common good and promotes human flourishing is not in any way different from what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did when he, a Baptist minister and theologian, fought for just laws.

(Snip)
Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic church in Minnesota

View 2

Bishops are squandering a rich tradition of moral teaching
NEIL ELLIOTT
October 4, 2011

It is, indeed, "disturbing" that the archbishop leading the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticized the Obama administration for dropping its defense of the unfortunately named "Defense of Marriage Act."

The bishops' protest that recognizing gay marriage could generate discrimination against Roman Catholics appears an absurd bit of histrionics when compared with the real discrimination already suffered by those among us whose relationships are every bit as loving and dignified as those of their straight neighbors, but who are denied basic rights and recognition.

The Star Tribune editorial is right: the teachings of a particular religious hierarchy cannot be the basis for denying basic human rights to a segment of the population.

But the bishops' stance is unfortunate not just because it crosses a line between church and state. Their stance also squanders the moral capital of Catholic social teaching.

As debates carried out in these opinion pages have illustrated, much of the Catholic magisterium's current campaign against recognition of gay marriage turns on a particular interpretation of "natural law."

(Snip)

Neil Elliott, of White Bear Lake, is an Episcopal priest; in the 1990s he taught the "Global Search for Justice" course as a member of the Theology Department at the College of St. Catherine.


After reading them both a question...which makes a better argument.