Freedom of and From Religion - Bill Moyers

[Bozita]

Bill MoyersManaging Editor, Moyers & Company

Freedom of and From Religion
Posted: 02/16/2012 11:22 am

The president did something agile and wise the other day. And something quite important to the health of our politics. He reached up and snuffed out what some folks wanted to make into a cosmic battle between good and evil. No, said the president, we're not going to turn the argument over contraception into Armageddon, this is an honest difference between Americans, and I'll not see it escalated into a holy war. So instead of the government requiring Catholic hospitals and other faith-based institutions to provide employees with health coverage involving contraceptives, the insurance companies will offer that coverage, and offer it free.

The Catholic bishops had cast the president's intended policy as an infringement on their religious freedom; they hold birth control to be a mortal sin, and were incensed that the government might coerce them to treat it otherwise. The president in effect said: No quarrel there; no one's going to force you to violate your doctrine. But Catholics are also Americans, and if an individual Catholic worker wants coverage, she should have access to it -- just like any other American citizen. Under the new plan, she will. She can go directly to the insurer, and the religious institution is off the hook.

When the president announced his new plan, the bishops were caught flat-footed. It was so ... so reasonable. In fact, leaders of several large, Catholic organizations have now said yes to the idea. But the bishops have since regrouped, and are now opposing any mandate to provide contraceptives even if their institutions are not required to pay for them. And for their own reasons, Republican leaders in Congress have weighed in on the bishops' side. They're demanding, and will get, a vote in the Senate.

more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/obama-contraception-compromise-freedom-of-and-from-religion_b_1281942.html

[immoderate]

1. Perfect storm.

The Congress are not content to slide by with their do-nothingness, they have to expose themselves on opposing birth control! This is not like an outside group, OWS say, changing the field of debate. This is voluntary!

This congress will self-destruct in nine months. And good riddance!

--imm

[cbayer]

2. Thanks for this - cross-posting in Religion

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Bozita.