Posted on 04/04/2006 4:17:07 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam
ANN ARBOR, MI – A virulently anti-Catholic resolution unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors condemning Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality and urging the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy Church directives prohibiting gay adoptions has prompted a federal lawsuit by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens, challenges the anti-Catholic resolution as a “startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church, Catholic moral teaching and beliefs, and those who adhere to the tenets of the Catholic faith, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
The March 21, 2006 resolution alludes to the Vatican as a foreign country meddling in the affairs of the City and describes the Church’s moral teaching and beliefs as “insulting to all San Franciscans,” “hateful,” “insulting and callous,” “defamatory,” “absolutely unacceptable,” “insensitive[] and ignoran[t].” The resolution calls on the local Archbishop to “defy” the Church’s teachings and describes Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for safeguarding the doctrine on the faith and morals of the Church throughout the Catholic world, as “unqualified” to lead.
According to Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, “The demagoguery and virulent words of this resolution are reminiscent of the anti- Catholic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothings, which marred our Nation’s earlier history. San Francisco may as well have put up signs at the City limits: ‘Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed.”
Catholic doctrine proclaims that allowing children to be adopted by homosexuals would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development. Therefore, such policies are gravely immoral and Catholic organizations must not place children for adoption in homosexual households.
The lawsuit claims that the First Amendment “forbids an official purpose to disapprove of a particular religion, religious beliefs, or of religion in general.” The lawsuit states that this “anti-Catholic resolution sends a clear message to Plaintiffs and others who are faithful adherents to the Catholic faith that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community and an accompanying message that those who oppose Catholic religious beliefs, particularly with regard to homosexual unions and adoptions by homosexual partners, are insiders, favored members of the political community.”
Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling this matter, commented, “Our constitution forbids hostility toward any religion. In total disregard for the Constitution, homosexual activists in positions of authority in San Francisco are abusing their authority as government officials and misusing the instruments of government to attack the Catholic Church. This egregious abuse of power is an outrage and a clear violation of the First Amendment.”
I don't see anything written here about what kind of remedy they are seeking through this lawsuit. What is the purpose of the lawsuit, besides seeking to reveal the truth?
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors certainly has no problem in meddling in the foreign affairs of other countries.
Hopefully, the next earthquake. This time, the BIG one.
I don't know what remedy they are seeking, but I suppose I would ask for a retraction, an apology, and perhaps damages.
Where is the vaunted "wall of separation"? The City Council is totally out of bounds attempting to dictate faith and morals.
For your ping lists, if interested.
...ban federal funds from going to the City of San Francisco. That'll shut them up in a hurry.
I wouldn't touch them with all the A1 sauce in the world.
I wonder what the SF Board of Supervisors thinks of Islam?
stake
Dunking
This is a true encroachment on the religious freedom of the Catholics in SF. Any suit should ask for damages, censure, and anything else that can be taken from the SF bast*rds. I'm not a catholic, but this is about as ridiculous as it gets. Somebody really needs to put the SF city leaders under the rule of law again.
Want to bet that they'd go on about how we need to understand other cultures?
I'm glad that the Roman Catholics are not going to let this sort of religious bigotry pass by unchallenged.
Don't forget the hateful statements in connection with the recent Christian Youth Rally:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602900/posts
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