Posted on 02/07/2012 8:35:41 PM PST by SeekAndFind
How dangerous is this for them? Dangerous enough that even Chris Matthews, who was last seen praising Obama’s beatific smile as worth 10 points in the booth this November, is talking about how “frightening” it is that the state might start dictating to churches in matters of conscience. If they’ve got Tingles saying stuff like that, imagine what undecided religious voters are thinking.
A key White House adviser on faith issues said Tuesday that several organizations with ties to the administration have approached President Obama’s aides about finding a resolution to fast-growing controversy over a new rule requiring many Catholic institutions to offer birth control and other contraception services as part of employees’ health care coverage.
“There are conversations right now to arrange a meeting to talk with folks about how this policy can be nuanced,” said Pastor Joel C. Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor who has grown personally close to Obama and advised his White House on religious issues. “This is so fixable, and we just want to get into the conversation.”…
One possible compromise was introduced as early as last October, long before the issue hit the national headlines, when one of Obama’s outside advisers drafted a plan that would have allowed women working for Catholic institutions to receive coverage directly from insurers rather than from the objecting institutions themselves.
Carney said this afternoon that they “will be working with those organizations and individuals who have concerns” on implementing the new policy before it goes into effect next year, but Axelrod was a bit stronger this morning in the MSNBC clip you’ll find below. Quote: “We certainly don’t want to abridge anyone’s religious freedoms, so we’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventive care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions.” As with Komen and Planned Parenthood, I’m surprised the White House is as surprised as it seems to be about the backlash it’s getting. The thinking, I assume, was that they could get away with it because, as Ed notes in his new column, Catholics just aren’t that socially conservative. Fifty-four percent of them voted for The One in 2008; meanwhile, in today’s new PRRI poll on the contraception issue, 58 percent of Catholics thought all employers should cover birth control in their health plans at no cost and 52 percent thought that policy should extend to religiously-affiliated employers. (Among Catholic voters specifically, though, the split was 45/52.) If there was nothing else happening to keep the issue cooking, it might have faded before election day. I think Team O might have been caught off-guard by the intensity and uniformity of the pushback from Catholic bishops, though, especially since they’re used to getting cover from many of them on other Democratic agenda items like immigration. And of course, Romney went after this issue hard and will probably be pressed by Santorum into going after it harder still. That’s a risky simultaneous surge of political demand and supply for the White House, so here comes the climbdown.
Exit question from Ace’s co-blogger Laura W: Why did Catholic organizations support ObamaCare in the first place when they knew there was a risk that it would force conflicts of conscience like this one? Did they think it didn’t matter how other groups were burdened so long as they themselves got a pass?
I agree with you. I left the Church years ago for my own reasons, but I still hold a pretty conservative idea of what Catholicism is. Sadly, most of my ‘Catholic’ friends seem to belong to some other kind of church that lets them pick and choose what they want to practice. They also believe in abortion and wonder why the Church won’t ‘get with’ modern mores.
How do they even call themselves Catholic?
BS. As soon as they can, they will re-institute the rule. This temporary reversal, like everything Democrats do, is a political lie.
Seems like this is a "and when they came for me" moment for Catholics. But as others have posted, Obama will back off, and then when he is re-elected, he will re institute the rules, and it will be too late for people of conscience. The choice will be compliance or persecution.
Note to Catholic organizations: Lay down with America hating, Catholic hating, Christian hating, Constitution hating, freedom hating Marxists and you get up with Marxists in charge of your Church, not Catholics.
Notice that it was Axelrod, Obama’s ‘po;itical advisor that was sent out to try and molify/modify the situation. There is no backing down on principle as such. They will try it on again if the political landscape allows them to get away with it. here is hoping that the scales have now fallen from the eyes of American Catholics.
Notice that it was Axelrod, Obama’s ‘po;itical advisor that was sent out to try and molify/modify the situation. There is no backing down on principle as such. They will try it on again if the political landscape allows them to get away with it. here is hoping that the scales have now fallen from the eyes of American Catholics.
I want every single christian aware of what a lying sack of cat poop this charlatan really is.And then I want the Republican candidate who ever it is to win sin such a landslide that there is no doubt that it isn't racism, but old fashion common sense that got Obozo's stanky lanky @$$ kicked out of office. /rant
I am sorry to disagree with you, but there is a certain percentage of the Catholic population that is so friken stupid they would gladly eat a poop sandwich from this @$$ hat.
I am saying this as a cradle Catholic that left and came back. Just look at Kerry, Pelousi, Stupidpak etc......
Since health insurance cannot be sold across state lines, this particular federal over-reach cannot be justified by the commerce clause. This one should be easy to overturn in court. The only thing to like is that it is a political blunder of the first order.
As to that other over-reach called the Obamacare individual mandate, it will now be impossible for the Justice Department to argue before the Supremes that there will be no “slippery slope” toward mandating other items for us to purchase.
“They will pretend to have second thoughts long enough to get this issue out of the headlines.”
The Catholic Church has too much to lose if they get taken on this; by throwing down the gauntlet Obama thought they’d roll over, and now they’ve very publicly came out against him (my Pastor didn’t mince words) they have to see it through or admit complete irrelevance. My parish normally is quiet in terms of politics, but in the past few weeks that has gone out the window; our parish website has a link to very quickly let you send a note, with some personalization, to our representative and both senators.
Why? Because of this, he will be gone in November. He doesn’t realize how serious this is. If he did, he’d fire Sebelius.
It all really depends on how this thing grows legs. If the liberal Catholics(women) dig in their heals and go along wih Obama, he will not back down. If teachers, firepersonal, cops vote paycheck and not their Religious beliefs first, he wins. The question will come down to what comes first your religious core beliefs or your pocketbook. I’m not so sure with the followers of the Catholic Church, afterall, they voted by 27% for this man to begin with knowing full well that he was a huge proponent of partial birth abortian in Chicago. Even as a crappy Catholic, I still hope to have my core beliefs finally set and know what is truly iimportant to me. Wish I felt confident that fellow Catholics felt the same way.
Well said!
the backdoor route to communism.
I agree. Take a look at the lines for Confession some Saturday afternoon. In our parish, it might be six people, but EVERYBODY in the parish lines up for Communion on Sunday. It's wonderful to be in a parish with so many perfect people! /s
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