Posted on 07/12/2011 12:58:20 PM PDT by NYer
When a bill creating civil unions in Illinois was signed by Governor Pat Quinn in January, sponsors and activists for the law agreed that its provisions would not affect religious social service or adoption agencies. Now, quite predictably, it has. Today, the AP reports that Governor Quinn has determined the State of Illinois can no longer contract with Catholic Charities for adoption and foster care services because the charities don’t comply with the Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act.
The reason for “religious freedom” preceding “civil union” in the title of the law now appears to have been entirely cosmetic. Opponents of the bill charged that creating civil unions would impinge on religious freedom. The bill’s proponents went out of their way to say it would not – in order to get it passed.
According to an op-ed in the Quad City Times,
The bill sponsor, Sen. David Koehler, clearly promised in his Senate floor testimony that the law would not impact “the social services” or the “adoption agencies” of religious organizations.
Equality Illinois, a major proponent of the bill, even put together a widely distributed Q & A on the bill intended to dismiss “myths” about the bill’s intentions. One question read:
5. How would the Act affect religious affiliated adoption agencies?
Answer: The Act would not impact faith-based adoption agencies or adoption procedures. The Act does not amend the Adoption Act, which governs both public and private adoption agencies.
But then the bill passed, and religious freedom went out the window as some in state government, the Catholic governor included, began to argue that the passed bill does not in fact exempt Catholic Charities from facilitating adoptions to those in civil unions.
The position of the state government on the religious freedom provisions of the law was so contrary to the rhetoric leading up to the bill’s passage, that in April, original sponsor Sen. David Koehler introduced an amendment to make it absolutely clear that:
“A child welfare agency that is religiously based or owned by, operated by, or affiliated with a bona fide religious organization may decline an adoption or foster family home application, including any related licensure and placement, from a party to a civil union if acceptance of that application would constitute a violation of the organization’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Under fire for introducing the amendment, Koehler said he had to keep the guarantee he made on religious freedom when he was championing the civil unions bill. “No group should have to go against what its religious principles were and that included organizations that were involved in adoption,” he told WBEZ radio.
Koehler’s amendment failed 7-6 in the Senate’s Executive Committee. For Illinois civil union supporters, the time for supporting guarantees of religious freedom had passed. With civil unions now the law, civil unions will also be the hammer against religious freedom that anybody could have predicted they would be. Everywhere civil unions or same-sex marriages have become the law, they have been used to shut Catholic Charities out of adoption and foster care services. And there is no reason to expect they won’t be used to erode other religious freedoms down the road.
Other states would do well to consider Illinois’ experience. When it comes to the hierarchy of freedoms in a post-civil union/same-sex marriage state, the desires of same-sex couples for affirmation trumps every other right – no matter how well you craft your legislation. It is far safer not to consider civil unions at all.
Ping!
What until they go after the tax exempt status of any church not performing gay “marriages.”
Prepare for even more.....
What same-sex “marriage” has done to Massachusetts
http://www.massresistance.com/docs/marriage/effects_of_ssm.html
When are we going to realize that all this stuff is not happening by accident, that our goverment really is Evil?
My thoughts exactly. We'll have to go back to meeting unofficially in houses like we did in the first century AD.
Same sex marriage is not about relationships, its about the power of law to enforce sexuality on society. I does not respect simple freedoms and rights as it claim’s to:
In 2005, when David Parker of Lexington, MA – a parent of a kindergartner – strongly insisted on being notified when teachers were discussing homosexuality or transgenderism with his son, the school had him arrested and put in jail overnight.
What part of a parents right to raise his own child is not about freedom and equality?
Be warned, the Homosexual agenda is about destroying society, and has destroyed every single society in history that has embraced it. Not one remain to this day.
Why anyone would believe a promise from a liberal is beyond me.
Another reason I support the Unregistered Church movement (You’ll notice there is no wiki page about it, they don’t want people to know I guess)
NY’s gay marriage law has a “nonseverability” clause for the religious exemptions. Not saying they won’t find a way around it, but it is funny that the fastest way to stop “gay marriage” in NY would be for a judge to rule the religious exemptions unconstitutional.
Freegards
The Unregistered Baptist Fellowship is one group trying to encourage Christians to not registered with the IRS in any shape or form.
http://unregisteredbaptistfellowship.com/index.php
Kinda bites for them that Catholics spend half their time supporting Democrats.
Hard to feel sorry...
Many of us already have.
I am familiar with the house church for some time, but I’very never been able to find a sound group. I attend a regular church now, but perhaps someday it will be a viable option for me.
It’s going to be so good for the children when all foster care and adoption arrangements are made by and for homosexuals.
Illinois is pretty much a hell mouth in America.
Sorry Illinois freepers, but it is.
The plan is to start suing and treating independent businesses as obligation. This recently happened in New Mexico, where a photographer tried to defer a request to someone else, because she felt that someone else could take the picture of a homosexual couple.
Other than that, the usual “terror” activity of suicide in front of various churches or blaiming everything from Catholicism to who knows what other denomination for the gay deaths, never mind the fact that even in mainland Europe and Great Britain, active or practicing homosexuals are still disproportionately high in suicide.
The main phase is now discouragement, but remember and stay true people, we can weather this one out, it’s not going to be easy, but yes we can do it, and yes, I am royally disappointed that a politician whom I heavily disagree with used my favorite phrase in his campaign rhetoric.
Kinda bites for them that Catholics spend half their time supporting Democrats.
Well, those who do, will have to get the message that political agendas have their limited usefulness for them as useful idiots, the same for roughly the liberal Jews, liberal Protestants, non-denominational, non-trinitarians, etc. I have a bad feeling that ultimately plenty of us will have to make some serious choices as to who our real friends are, and it won’t be all that easy.
Unless something changes fundamentally, and fast, other more serious measures are going to become inevitable.
Yeah, but those are the ones who already support homosexual marriage, so it doesn't matter them, anyway.
Quinn is the biggest POS this side of Obama.
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