Catholics hear anti-Obama letter in church (Some idiots wanted "change" so they got it)

During church services on Sunday, Catholics around the country were read a blistering letter assailing the Obama administration for an "assault on religious liberty" in the form of a coming requirement that most church-linked organizations - among them hospitals, schools and universities - offer birth control coverage as part of their health care plans.

Despite strong lobbying from religious groups, the Health and Human Services Department announced earlier this month that most church-linked groups will not be exempt from the requirements - which also mandate that no co-pay be charged for contraceptive services - though they will have an extra year to comply beyond the August 1 deadline. Churches themselves (along with any other employer that is explicitly focused on offering a religious message, and which primarily employs those who believe in that message) are exempt from the requirement.

Religious groups were outraged by the decision - saying it forced employers at church-linked organizations to violate their conscience - and on Sunday Catholic leaders took their complaints directly to parishioners. As Business Insider reported, similar letters were read in churches around the country complaining that "the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty."

As several have pointed out, you are in error on Gingrich. He converted to Catholicism some time ago.

I am a Catholic and I would prefer Santorum. Nonetheless, Santorum does not seem to be getting any serious traction. We cannot keep dividing conservative votes while Romney wins delegates and delegations by mere pluralities. The first job this year is defeating Romney. THEN and only then do we defeat Obozo. There is no point in electing Romney to defeat Obozo. We won't get a chance to elect Santorum over Obozo if he cannot be nominated. If I had to vote today, I would vote for Gingrich. If Santorum has a legitimate shot in Illinois by primary day in March, I'll vote for him. It is my hope that Santorum will make that unnecessary by following Perry's and Cain's example.

This is not an ideal situation but it is what it is.

Now, most importantly, this website is most certainly NOT anti-Catholic. JimRob is apparently an Evangelical Christian. His patience with intramural Catholic squabbling here has been truly legendary. His moderators enforce a reasonable degree of civility on everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike and do not take sides. I don't agree with every decision but neither does anyone else. When the heat of combat has faded, most of us conclude that the decisions are fair if not perfect.

Newt's marital track record is obviously one that leaves much to be desired. I won't let it cause Romney's nomination and the resultant demise of the GOP and of our nation.

BTW, in this context, the use of the term WASP is not one that I would welcome. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. I suspect that few folks here object to white and that you don't either. Anglo-Saxon. I am 1/4 English and have a Saxon surname. My paternal grandfather arrived here in the US as an Anglican. Was that a crime? He converted to Catholicism more than one hundred years ago. Is that a problem? I suspect not. My other grandfather arrived here as a Scots-Irish Presbyterian Protestant. Was that a crime? He also converted to Catholicism more than one hundred years ago. Was that a problem?

We have enough challenges facing all of us as conservatives in this movement and in this society without trying to re-fight the Thirty Years War (which, incidentally, we lost and should get over it). I identify as Irish Catholic more than any other ancestry because my Irish Catholic grandmother was also one of my closest pals when I was a kid and was my only living grandparent. Does that mean that I must dislike Protestants for being Protestants? Puhleeze. Many fine FReepers are Protestants. Some fine FReepers are Mormons. Still other fine FReepers are Jews and some fine FReepers have no faith at all but are conservative nonetheless.

I am not happy with some who feel that any time Catholicism is mentioned it is somehow mandatory to make snarky remarks. But that gun fires both ways and I am also not happy with some fellow Catholics who feel compelled to insult Protestants at every opportunity. We aren't winning our political battles without Protestants and they aren't winning their political battles without us.

Also, there is very little anti-Mormonism around here. If Catholics and Protestants voted as regularly conservative as Mormons, the war would be won already. I have no use for Romney because he is a hopeless elitist liberal not because he is Mormon. If he were a better Mormon, he would be a better and more acceptable candidate. Pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality and gun grabber and tax hiker does not translate to Mormon by the standards of any Mormon I have ever known. If some Mormons vote for Romney as some Catholics voted for JFK, that would be the same sort of shame but understandable.

If the status remains quo, I will vote for Gingrich because he is not Romney and religion has nothing whatsoever to do with it.

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