The end of the world as we know it...

The sky is falling, the sky is falling; it's the end of the world as we know it; cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria! That's what the Archbishop would have you believe in his recent article in the Catholic Spirit about a "very serious threat to the religious freedom of all religious institutions" by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This comes from his view that the HHS department's imposition of reproductive equality on providers of health plans is a threat to the freedom of all religions. It is not a threat to the freedom of religion, its just a threat to the beliefs of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the Archbishop has the misguided belief that every other religion should and does believe the same thing. The Archbishop doesn't take into account any other religious belief in his claim about the threat to religious freedom, just his own.

The Archbishop and the archdiocese have been silent when the "religious freedoms" of other organizations were being threatened. The Church of England, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), all allow for contraception. The Presbyterian Church even went as far to say that “contraceptive services are part of basic health care” and cautioned that “unintended pregnancies lead to higher rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, and maternal morbidity, and threaten the economic viability of families.” Where was the archdiocese when the rights of these religious groups were being threatened in 1984 when President Reagan created the "Mexico City Policy" that prohibited aid being given to international family planning organizations that provide contraception, birth control counseling, or that advocated access to contraception (and he did it by executive order I might add)? Where was the archdiocese in support of the religious freedoms of these churches in 2008 when the Bush administration issued a memo that defined several widely used contraception methods as abortion and protected medical providers who refused to offer them? Yes that's right; they were silent because the weight of the government was on their side and not on the side of other religions and beliefs.

The Archbishop should speak out againts all attacks on religious freedoms whether or not the Catholic church believes in what is being attacked or not, as should other religious groups. However, the Archbishop won't speak out about attacks on religious freedoms in every case. Why you ask?  It's like the old saying; it depends upon whose ox is being gored. As for the government. The government should not be for or against any religion; that’s why we have the separation of church and state.  It should, however, be on the side of women’s rights. This means allowing them to have contraceptive options in health care. The sky is not falling, it is not the end of the world as we know it, there's no threat to religious freedoms, no mass hysteria, and as far as I know cats and dogs are not living together.  However, if you do see reports of this phenomenon occurring, please let me know and I'll retract my statement (about the cats and dogs that is).