The Catholic Church is big enough and powerful enough to stand on principal and bring this to a head (no pun intended). I am interested to see if the church wimps out and makes accomodation. We are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. Line in the sand time. Bets anyone?
Mel
Well, what essential religious purpose does it serve for the Catholic Church to run institutions of higher education that do not offer purely religious training, or hospitals that treat people other than Catholics? To the extent that the churches operate within the private sector, engaging in businesses that people of any denomination, or of no religion at all, can operate, why should those enterprises be exempt from the laws that govern all businesses?
We all appreciate that the Catholic Church built universities and hospitals where there were none. But this is the 21st Century, and the laws that apply to all should apply to them. If you want to change those laws, fine, but the fact that Catholic values are out of the mainstream (i.e., contraceptives) does not give them the right to deprive ordinary human beings of their basic dignities. It's obvious that Catholic institutions value the services of people whose faith is not strict Catholic, why not value their right to make their own moral decisions within the law?