The administration’s response Tuesday came on two tracks ”” with officials telling liberal groups and lawmakers that they were not backing down, while trying to assure religious groups that a phase-in period will allow the two sides to agree on an approach to putting the rule into practice.
“There are conversations right now to arrange a meeting to talk with folks about how this policy can be nuanced,” said 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.”
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama is taking the objections of the Catholic leaders “seriously” and will seek to implement the policy in a way that “allays some of those concerns.”
This year’s election is shaping up as a choice between Beelzebul and Beelzebub. God help us all.
Ooh; I can’t wait until they ask the Catholics to “live into the tension” of the situation. Interesting how I have not seen any mainline Protestant leaders jumping in to back POTUS. In this case I take a “nuanced” response to be “don’t look at what we do, just listen to what we say.” I’m thinking that the Catholic bishops are going to use the “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me” rule to deal with this.
While I support the Catholic stance, I still remember that they were willing to throw everyone else under the bus of the coerced mandate. They were quite willing to sacrifice individual conscience so long as they got a pass.