Posted on 02/29/2012 1:14:30 PM PST by raptor22
First Amendment: The ex-head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops compares the administration take on freedom of worship to the Soviet Union's and says its contraceptive mandate will force church hospitals to close.
On the first Sunday of Lent, Chicago's Francis Cardinal George issued his version of the letter issued by the USCCB he recently led.
It shredded assurances by the administration that things could be worked out so that religious freedom would not be impaired and painted a bleak future that just might be the administration's intent.
Going a bit further than his peers, Cardinal George essentially rejected the administration position that you can have freedom of conscience as long as you don't act on it and that Catholics can run hospitals believing what they want as long as they don't act on those beliefs.
Cardinal George responded that what Catholics and others do is what they believe and the two cannot be separated.
"Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the constitution of the former Soviet Union," Cardinal George wrote in a column in the Catholic New World. "You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. We fought a long Cold War to defeat that vision of society."
Indeed we did. It was fought to protect the First Amendment and the free exercise of religion in all its aspects.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
To believe is to obey. If you say you are a Christian, they have to behave like a Christian, or you are a hypocrite
To believe is to obey. If you say you are a Christian, they have to behave like a Christian, or you are a hypocrite
“We fought a long Cold War to defeat that vision of society.”
I’ve been saying for 3 years that we shed American blood for half a century to defeat the very ideology that Obama holds dear.
First Amendment ping
Soon will come the time some Catholic churches will have unannounced visitors from the IRS. The regime is already targeting Tea Party organizations.
You must instruct your flock to vote the bastards out, Cardinal. With all due respect.
The Obamacare gulag is going to be your local “public” hospital.
waiting for everything, angry inhabitants, unsanitary conditions, MRSA, poor food, lack of concern over the dying, etc.....
Yes and this is what I have been warning about, that stuff like this will create a climate that would very much a second revolution much more possible.
Until the bishops take off the rhetorical gloves, nobody will be moved. How about some of these terms: Religious oppression, persecution, martyrs of conscience, pogrom against Christianity, jack-booted government thugs, war against children, ...? Any others come to mind?
Please see post number 11.
The great Lutheran H Richard Niebuhr in his classic Christ and Culture posited that the Church was at its strongest and at its point closest to perfection when its beliefs put it most at odds with the culture of the society and at its weakest when the Church and society seemed one. The Church was stronger during the time of Acts and later, the persecutions than it was in the Middle Ages. Maybe now is the time for the Church to make a stand against the cultures of self and licentiousness which are enabled by the unbridled power of the state.
The reason that Obama and the libtards are after the church
is because that is where charity is supposed to be. It gets
it’s own tax break and constitutional amendment and the tards
don’t like that. In other words Obama wants to regulate and
tax religion and put all charity under the absolute control
of the government. The reason they hate Christianity is
because it’s the basis and foundation of western morals and
principles for which Obama can’t stand.
The question is, is Obama anti Christian? He does seem to
have an affinity for Islam. If he is then wouldn’t that make
him anti Christ?
And Sebelius tipped her hand yesterday. She said ‘private Health Insurance is in a death spiral and will not last even a few more years’ (paraphrase). Is it already too late?
“Religious oppression, persecution, martyrs of conscience, pogrom against Christianity, jack-booted government thugs, war against children”
Good post, steve8714. Those are exactly the kinds of terms we need to use against the criminal fascist syndicate occupying Washington.
These are the same bishops that supported Obamacare.
He does indeed have the spirit of antichrist but he's not the antichrist.
See 1 John 4.



If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.
Or you can get raw with these strings.
How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).
And finally, this, dedicated to the one and only rdb2, whose eyes are growing dim.
Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.
Do it!
American people should be worried more about the terrorist in Washington than those in the mideast.
Look no further than obama bin liar for the real danger.
American people should be worried more about the terrorist in Washington than those in the mideast.
Look no further than obama bin liar for the real danger.
“If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”
Only stupid people believe that.
If we’re even specualting about this, Obama needs to lose by a landslide if this nation is to thrive again.
Our Congresswoman, Ann Marie Buerkle, considers this contraceptive issue the biggest attack on our first amendment rights of freedom of religion that we’ve seen yet. She said that it’s nothing less than that. It’s not about *women* or *healthcare* at all. It’s an assault on religious freedom, plain and simple.
She’s apparently up for re-election this year and I’m praying that she gets back in.
A landslide would be nice but 270-268 would be just fine.
I long to hear his concession speech, Providence willing it will be his first speech that I listen to in it’s entirety or while smiling.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

Did you see this?
No. That is so aggravating. If you can’t win by stealing the election, try by redistricting.
On the bright side, although Ithaca is bad, I know a lot of very conservative people in Cortland County and I’m going to guess that Thompkins County is too, although bll might be able to fill us in better on that. It is very rural out that way except for Ithaca and Cortland.
BTW, I was at that townhall meeting of Buerkle’s. It was a great meeting. She is really what this country needs and is no pushover. We really need to pray her in to office again.
Some are some aren’t. The queens in the chancery survive, though. They and the lawyers probably write most pastoral letters which touch on politics.
And George Bush could have stopped 0bama. Bush had the intelligence on 0bama. Now we have an avowed Marxist and enemy of the United States in our White House.
Tompkins County is something like 2 to 1 democrat over republican
what Catholics and others do is what they believe and the two cannot be separated.
I believe James says “I will show you my faith by my works.”
“If you say you are a Christian, they have to behave like a Christian, or you are a hypocrite”
Not necessarily. A person might just be a bad Christian, or weak, or just falling short.
You’re a hypocrite if you hold others to rules that you don’t even try to follow yourself, or perhaps to rules that you think shouldn’t apply to you.
Human weakness and failure are not at all the same thing as hypocrisy.
“waiting for everything”
While living in Japan, I waited longer than four hours to see a doctor on many occasions.
I had a kidney infection misdiagnosed as chronic pancreatitis. That was fun.
There is also cognitive dissonance, or just inconsistency. As for hypocrisy, there is the old saying that it is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. We admire the saints but dont have the will to imitate them.
“As for hypocrisy, there is the old saying that it is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. We admire the saints but dont have the will to imitate them.”
Not having the will to imitate the saints is not hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is demanding that others imitate the saints while not requiring it of one’s self.
Didn’t mean he was THE Antichrist. He’s just anti Christ
I happened to catch a snatch of comment by some gal opposed to the conscience amendment. Claiming that anyone could just dream up a reason for claiming the at a law violates his conscience. But the position of the Catholic Church is not arbitrary. It was well know to Onama and his cohorts and he just decided, to hell with them.
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