Posted on 10/20/2006 6:40:09 AM PDT by presidio9
Catholic and other religious social service groups must provide contraceptive coverage to their employees even if they consider contraception a sin, according to yesterday's ruling by the state's highest court.
The 6-0 decision by the state Court of Appeals hinged on defining Catholic Charities and the other nine religious groups suing the state to be social service agencies, rather than only operating as churches.
The organizations "believe contraception to be sinful," the decision states. "We must weigh against [their] interests in adhering to the tenets of their faith the state's substantial interest in fostering equality between the sexes, and in providing women with better health care."
The New York Catholic Conference is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We think this has never really been about contraception, we think it was to target the church and open the door for coverage of abortion," said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the Catholic conference.
The court said the fact that the organizations hire employees outside their faith is a critical factor and they deserve the rights sought under the law.
"That ought to be offensive to anyone of faith," Poust said.
"I think it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Catholicism, which teaches that to be saved, Catholics must perform works of mercy," Poust said. "Faith alone is not enough . . . and the way the church performs its works of mercy is through its Catholic Charities, its schools and its hospitals -
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Wait 'til they have quit sucking on the government teat! Trust me, they'll pay for abortions before they'll do that.
The state has its own marriage. It is a license, you can get it at the justice of the peace or from an Elvis. It is independent of religion.
Unless, of course, you believe anything that has been "tainted" by religion has to be excised.
Marriage is in many non-western cultures and non-religious cultures. Your perspective is too narrow.
marriage is in all cultures yes, but what cultures are non-religious?
Ancient Rome. Modern China.
Let me give you some advice: quit digging.
The headline SHOULD read: Court Bans Churches from offerring Health Insurance!!!
What a dumb thing to say. For all we know Catholic charities will drop health insurance before offering birth control. The ruling was just handed down, and no decisions have been made yet. BTW, if there were no Catholic charities, your taxes would probably be significanty higher.
Try to understand the point. Only a man and a woman can make a baby. From this is drawn the inference that God (or evolution) intended children to be raised by a man/woman union.
Thousands of years of human experience with this arranegment have proven the usefullness of this arrangement. Social science tells us of the advantage a child with mother and father has over those raised by a single parent.
Yet, you want to argue that it is somehow unfair to not chuck aside millennia of human experience, the logical inference from human biology, and Divine revelation because we suddenly know better than all of that.
SD
dave, i never said the church should allow it, i'm saying the government should have absolutely no say in what the church decides to do.
How many nanoseconds will pass between the legalizing of "gay marriage" and the filing suit against the Catholic Church for "illegal discrimination"?
This is what's behind things like this article. It's a power play.
SD
the catholic church denies LOTS of people right to marriage in a catholic church. i had to fight a denial of my first marriage by the catholic church.
I'm not sure what your point is. There is no general right to get married in the Church.
i had to fight a denial of my first marriage by the catholic church.
Huh?
SD
Don't hold yer breath!
ok, so if there's no general right to get married in a catholic church, on what grounds would they sue?
and the catholic church denied me the right to be married in one of their churches because
a: i was not catholic (my first wife was)
b: i refused to sign a vow to raise my children catholic
after pointing out some sciptures to him that he had, apparently, never seen, he got permission from his superior to perform the wedding.
You're not really that naive are you? Since when do people need grounds and standing and facts and logic when they have victim's rights and grievances.
and the catholic church denied me the right to be married in one of their churches because
a: i was not catholic (my first wife was)
b: i refused to sign a vow to raise my children catholic
So then you should have walked away. You are betraying your own point here. You felt you were owed a Catholic wedding even though you didn't want to abide by their rules.
SD
well.. yeah, you're absolootely right on the first point.
the second, that's what the wife wanted, that's what her family wanted, i didn't care one way or the other. so a compromise was made with the church that they were willing to accept.
Is the Court's decision tied to Catholic Charities accepting State funding? If it is the answer seems clear. Do not take any more funds from the government.
Yes it would mean fewer services could be offered to the persons that Catholic Charities serves. But it would also provide incentives for more Catholics to give to an agency that many see as being too influenced by secular and non Catholic agendas.
Ahhh, that must explain the exceedingly large number of apostate Muslims in New Jersey, Dearborn, Michigan and Seattle, Washington!
CA....
That sucks, but that's life.
Well, since they're only caught in the crossfire, let's just ignore them, and move right on in to Feel Good About Myself territory.
CA....
If that was the case, the priest had no right to grant you a church marriage, no matter how much you whined.
Also, the marrige contract is with God, not the Church. If you didn't agree to raise your children Catholic, you were never actually married, no matter what the priest said. You should let your first wife know this, so that she can have your marriage annulled if she ever wants to get married in a church again.
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