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The Humana Vitae is rightfully considered an inhumane document because it's a fancified way for the church to play grab-hand with women's bodies. But recent events show that the implications of the document go further than controlling women's bodies and sexualities and relationships. It's given supporters (especially male supporters) the belief that they should also be able to control and police women's minds. The first incident involves Catholic feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, who was offered a job at the University of San Diego, only to have the offer rescinded. Why? Because Ruether disagrees with the Humana Vitae, and is a pro-choice Catholic.
There is a constant struggle between academic freedom and Catholic theology at a lot of Catholic schools, but most coverage of the issue fails to explain is that these struggles only seem to happen in the area of sex and women's rights. Other potential sources of conflict at most Catholic universities are easily settled in favor of academic freedom, but for some reason, the idea that women have rights is so incendiary that it requires universities to completely rethink their approach to the basic concepts of higher education.............
Catholic Thought Police Cracks Down
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Observers, including myself, had to wonder why Donohue thought the DNCC had the authority to bring female Catholics in line with religious teachings. To his credit, there seems to be a lot of confusion around this subject, with multiple people thinking that the combination of being female and being Catholic means that you lose your religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. During the Terri Schiavo debacle, Schiavo's parents and lawyer had the audacity to claim that Schiavo's spoken wishes were secondary to the church's teachings on euthanasia. Contrary to the hopes and dreams of Bill Donohue, the Schiavo fanatics, and anti-choice nuts the nationwide, though, the government actually allows members of the Catholic faith to reject the dictates of the church. Yes, even female members maintain their basic rights as citizens. Nor do the major political parties seem inclined to require religious tests of people who show up to offer press coverage..............
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