The HHS regulations announced on January 20 are one domestic expression of defining-religious-freedom-down. The administration does not propose to, say, restore the 1970 ICEL translations of the prayer-texts of the Mass; that, even HHS might concede, is a violation of religious freedom. But the administration did not think it a violation of religious freedom for its Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to try and overturn the longstanding legal understanding which held that religious institutions have a secure First Amendment right to choose their ministers by their own criteria””until it was told that it had gone way over the line in January’s Hosanna-Tabor Supreme Court decision (a judicial smackdown in which the administration’s own Court nominees joined).
Now, with the HHS “contraceptive mandate” (which, as noted above, is also a sterilization and abortifacent “mandate”), the administration claims that it is not violating the First Amendment by requiring Catholic institutions to provide “services” that the Catholic Church believes are objectively evil. That bizarre claim may well be another constitutional bridge too far. But the very fact that the administration issued these regulations, and that the White House press secretary blithely dismissed any First Amendment concerns when asked whether there were religious freedom issues involved here, tell us something very important, and very disturbing, about the cast of mind in the Executive Branch.
I think it’s been pretty evident from the beginning that the Obama administration’s goal is to impose a socialist state.
Agreed. This is only surprising to those in denial.
Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.
The fact that most American voters are not in the least disturbed by this is also very distressing.
I agree with all everyone above (#1-4). George Weigel speaks the truth. I love his writing: so clear, so cogent, so persuasive.
But as sophy0075 noted, this kind of appeal often falls on deaf ears these days. In terms of the subfield of sociology known as the sociology of knowledge (think Peter Berger et al.), everyone’s ability to be persuaded by any idea or appeal depends largely on the “plausibility structures” that they instinctively give credence to, i.e., their prior commitments and worldview. That’s what makes the Culture War so persistent and unresolvable. Two whole “orthodoxies” are clashing, as often noted by Robert George (another frequent Firt Things contributor and brilliant, committed Catholic scholar).
Yes, buckle your seat belts indeed. It’s going to be a wild ride. And it’s highly likely to get worse before it gets better. Authentic Christians in this supposedly Christian country are outnumbered. We have to stand together, or we’ll fall together.
David Handy+
O ye of little faith!
O ye of little faith!