SCOTUS and Religious Freedom's Slippery Slope

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The American Thinker:

 

 

May 13, 2012

SCOTUS and Religious Freedom's Slippery Slope

 

By Edward H. Stewart, Jr.

The ObamaCare contraceptive mandate has caught a lot of flack from Catholics who claim that it violates the free exercise rights of church-affiliated employers by forcing them to include birth control in employee health care plans. The outrage against the mandate is justified, the narrative runs, and the case against the Health and Human Services rule is a slam-dunk.

That overconfidence evaporates like spit on a hot tailpipe the minute we start thumbing through a few Supreme Court opinions. The problem: the free exercise clause is the First Amendment's redheaded stepchild. The root cause of the problem: "greater good through government" thinking like that of Georgetown's Catholic elites, and the neo-Marxist fascination with social justice that seduces bishops gagging on "free" abortion pills into attacking Paul Ryan's budget proposal as "un-Catholic."

We can't just wash our hands of this cognitive dissonance by blaming it on the progressives. Restricting the scope of the free exercise clause to promote the greater good has always been a bipartisan sport. It began innocently enough. Chief justice Burger reminded us of this in Bowen v. Roy, a 1986 free exercise case involving the denial of government benefits:

Our cases have long recognized a distinction between the freedom of individual belief, which is absolute, and the freedom of individual conduct, which is not.[1]

Drawing this distinction is both practical and necessary. Few would insist, for instance, that the government must tolerate the practice of human sacrifice by self-anointed Druids. To say nothing of the squabbling over sharia law. But some "principles" this observation has given birth to are not so innocent. In fact, they sound suspiciously like Obama's willingness to sacrifice First Amendment protections on the altar of women's reproductive health. Here's Burger once again in Bowen:

To maintain an organized society that guarantees religious freedom to a great variety of faiths requires that some religious practices yield to the common good. Religious beliefs can be accommodated, but there is a point at which accommodation would radically restrict the operating latitude of the legislature.[2]

 

 

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/scotus_and_religious_freedoms_slippery_slope.html#ixzz1ul7QVfnu

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Truth Before Dishonor

 

Obama’s Political Games Backfiring

 

Posted by John Hitchcock on 2012/05/13

Obama tried to play a political game with his Federal Budget proposal, which was not meant to pass but only to paint Republicans in a bad light. It went down to defeat in the Democrat-held US Senate 97-0. Obama’s naked political ploy fizzled badly. So, not learning from shooting himself in the foot, he tried the exact same thing the next year. It went down to defeat in the US House over 400-0. In neither case did a single Congresscritter, Republican or Democrat, vote for it. Ignominious defeat for the cynically hyper-partisan Obama who was looking or easy political talking points. It’s hard to call Republicans obstructionists when even the Democrats vote against your crap sandwiches.

Then came the whole “stay at home mothers don’t do any real work” back-fire fiasco. And his Administration’s direct frontal attack on Catholics, who are a major Democrat voting bloc. Again, Obama’s corrupt Leftist machine had failed to realize the US is not, at all, a radical Leftist political environment but rather a center-right one. Will Obama and his handlers ever learn? Apparently not.

With a clear majority of States in the Union voting for Traditional Marriage, including California, Obama has come out in favor of homosexual “marriage”. And it’s already backfiring. Jeff Poor at The Daily Caller (HT Hot Air Headlines) writes about Socialist thug and Union Boss Richard Trumka’s reaction and warning:

On Friday’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” on Bloomberg TV, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka acknowledged that President Barack Obama’s recent announcement that he personally supports same-sex marriages could hurt his popularity this fall among labor leaders and union members.

In order for Obama to try to drive a wedge issue in the election cycle, dividing the people instead of uniting them, and in order to get money his campaign desperately needs, Obama is running people off, people Obama needs to vote for him (and for down-ticket races). As Trumka said, Obama will lose some of the blue-collar Union vote because of this. Obama is also in danger of losing a couple points of the black vote, a couple points of the Hispanic vote, and more than a couple points of the Catholic vote. But he made Hollywierd happy enough to open their purses Read More http://truthbeforedishonor.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/obamas-political-games-backfiring/

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Behold: The Unholy Family & the Meatitudes

 

The Meatitudes

Blessed are the poor of possession: for theirs is the kingdom of earth.

Blessed are the relativists: for they shall possess the State.

Blessed are they who govern: for they know best.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for things: for they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the compliant: for they shall obtain preference.

Blessed are the indifferent of heart: for they shall see Ba'al.

Blessed are the interlopers: for they shall be called the children of Ba'al.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for Ba'al's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Ba'al.

http://powip.com/2012/02/behold-the-unholy-family-the-meatitudes/

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Catholic Teachings Not Subject to Polls

 

I'll try to keep it short.

It is very frustrating to have to go over this again and again and again. But I guess we have no choice.

Catholic Theology includes:

The Teachings of the Christ whilst He was hanging out here on Earth. The New Testament.

2000 years of Revelation by the holy Spirit. That is, ongoing enlightenment in God's own time to the Church vis a vis this and that. We Catholics call this Tradition.

I have written really long-winded essays on the Static nature of Truth. The ultimate Truth, of course, is God. He is Static and unchanging.

So, the Church Militant, which is the Body of Christ on Earth whose faithful are members, expresses that Truth, without regard to polls.

In terms of the HHS overreach, it matters very little that X% of "American Catholics" abide (or even agree with) the Natural Law in its fullness as expressed by the Church.

The problem, it turns out, is that people within one lifetime cannot amass the Wisdom of Christ's 2012 year old Church. The individual's perspective is woefully worthless in light of the Cumulative Wisdom (we call it the Treasury or Repository of Faith) of the world's most brilliant scholars and most holy men and women - and the enlightenment provided by the holy Spirit to the same. Not to mention personal revelation by Our Mother and the Christ Jesus Himself.

It matters not what today's faithful believe in regard to this or that portion of Truth.

Not one iota.

The Church, for Her part, is not given to pop sensibilities or polls Read More

 

 

http://powip.com/201...bject-to-polls/