So who's bankrolling the Becket Fund, the firm filing all those lawsuits against contraception?

[theHandpuppet]

Just follow the money.

http://ncronline.org/blogs/young-voices/knights-columbus-funds-help-step-womens-rights
National Catholic Reporter
Knights of Columbus funds help step on women's rights
by Nicole Sotelo
Jul. 10, 2014

(excerpts)
In a narrow ruling last week, the Supreme Court issued a decision that essentially endowed corporations, like Hobby Lobby, with the capacity for religious beliefs. In turn, those beliefs are now permitted to trump a woman's comprehensive health care coverage. You can thank the plaintiff, Hobby Lobby, for that. You can also thank, in part, the Knights of Columbus.

The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, has financially backed The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm that represented Hobby Lobby. Egregiously, the money that the Knights funneled to this conservative law firm originated from funds earmarked for charity...

...The Knights of Columbus are not the only donors to the Becket Fund, but what makes the Knights' donations controversial is the fact that most Knights of Columbus members are led to believe the organization's charitable dollars are going to charity, not political causes.

So how much of the Knights' money has been diverted to this conservative law firm? A lot. Between 2006 and 2010, Knights officials diverted over $1.5 million to the Becket Fund under the guise of annual "charitable contributions." ....

MORE at link provided above.

[libodem]

1. Catholics

Go figure.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Well, I knew that over a score of the lawsuits...

... had been filed by Catholic-affiliated groups/organizations/dioceses et al but the question was, where did all these groups find the money to retain a firm like Becket? Granted, I know nothing about how any religious organization disburses its funds or if there's some legal reason contributions can't be funneled into political lobbying (I'm assuming there isn't). But can funneling millions of dollars supposedly donated for charity efforts be rerouted to lobby and file lawsuits against things like gay marriage and reproductive rights? How does that jive with being a religious non-profit? And shouldn't it be made clear to those who donate that their contributions may be routed to outfits like Becket so they can continue their lawsuits to discriminate?

I'm certainly no lawyer so perhaps someone can explain to me the implications here. In any case, perhaps this is a lesson that folks should ask questions before they put that money into the collection plate.