Posted on 09/26/2015 10:23:51 AM PDT by Steelfish
Pope Francis Has Put Himself Into America’s Hot-Button Religious Freedom Debates
Michelle Boorstein, Sarah Pulliam Bailey. September 26 In addition to immigration and climate change, Pope Francis has spotlighted another topic on his U.S. trip, one that is just as contentious: The debate over what constitutes religious freedom.
His fellow bishops in the United States have in recent years selected as their top priority what they call threats to the rights of Americans to freely practice their faith. For them this has meant concern that, among other things, church-affiliated non-profits will have to do abortion referrals or treat gay spouses equally in things like health care. These concerns have escalated rapidly with the spread of same-sex marriage.
Their opponents on this, including civil liberties advocates and some segments of the White House, argue that one person’s religious liberty can’t trump another person’s right to be free of discrimination or to have full access to health care (including abortion or contraception).
So both sides have been watching carefully this week to see what the most popular pastor on the planet would say. Would he wade into something that divides Catholics as much as Americans in general? The answer appears to be yes.
Francis has made several comments this week showing his support for the bishops, including at the White House, where he stood beside President Obama and said “my brothers, the United States bishops, have reminded us all..to be vigilant..to preserve and defend [religious liberty] from everything that would threaten and compromise it.”
Francis also spoke about religious freedom at the United Nations, where he focused on Christians losing their homes and their lives because of religious persecution. There Francis immediately broadened the topic. “Not only in cases of religious or cultural persecution, but in every situation of conflict.”
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The USSC has determined that same sex marriage is the same as hetero marriage, therefore the "wall of separation" has been brought down, eliminating all debate
It's the "law of the land" now, right ?
So it's settled ...
There is no religious debate because the religion and the state are now one
simple
see ?
All hail the communist Pope. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
The pope does not speak for me. The pope can shove his godless socialism! See tagline.
Wow, Jim! If the pope is godless, what IS he then?
I don’t know, but when the pope aligns himself with the godless Marxists against America, against our constitution and against our God-given unalienable rights, we have a problem in Houston.
Agreed, big time problem. Psalm 2 is bedrock for me, but it still vexes to see our country unraveling.
Note that a big part of the problem with the so-called debate concerning constitutional religious freedoms is the following imo. Many citizens, including patriots and government “leaders," have evidently not read the Constitution and its history (RTFM), the debate about religious freedoms consequently fueled in part by rumors, gossip and hearsay about what the Constitution actually indicates about religious freedoms, particularly with respect to the Founding States' division of state and federal government powers.
I have to ask again: Who cares what the Pope says? Whatever happened to that separation of church and state the left is always bleating about?
“The pope can shove his godless socialism!”
You think this quote in the article from the Pope is socialism? I’m surprised you would think that. It seems to me he is supporting religious liberty over govn. intervention. Also pointing out Christians are losing their homes and their lives. I don’t see socialism in his remarks:
“my brothers, the United States bishops, have reminded us all..to be vigilant..to preserve and defend [religious liberty] from everything that would threaten and compromise it.” “Francis also spoke about religious freedom at the United Nations, where he focused on Christians losing their homes and their lives because of religious persecution. There Francis immediately broadened the topic. “Not only in cases of religious or cultural persecution, but in every situation of conflict.”
Genesis 1
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
29 And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
I like your tagline.
The pope came to America to advocate for open borders, climate change and socialism. No thanks.
When the pope advocates for socialism, he’s calling for an end to all freedom, including religious freedom.
Remembering that this is from the Compost, it does speak numerous times about religious freedom. I’m going to try to find another, more trustworthy source than the compost.
Are you saying the pope does not advocate for socialism, open borders and climate change? I’d like to believe that he doesn’t.
I’d like to believe that he doesn’t either, but it is in a lot of scripts from this visit.
I couldn’t find this address on Zenit which is usually the most accurate translation. Maybe it will appear.
As a lifelong Catholic from a Catholic family, I can not support this pope-he is from a socialist/communist 3d world country, and has not experienced freedom-he is basically clueless and should stick with being a spiritual leader, period.
The Church in countries like Argentina only exists as long as its leaders parrot the socialist message. Francis also has no damned business commenting on or pushing any political agenda like climate change, “sinful” capitalism, or immigration-he is supposed to be a spiritual leader, not a politician.
If I’m committing sin for not supporting the pope, then so be it-it does not affect my faith in God or belief in the Church...
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