Home » Opinion » The Audacity of Power: President Obama vs The Catholic Church

The Audacity of Power: President Obama vs The Catholic Church

By editorsub1 on February 14, 2012 2:38 am in Opinion / 8 comments

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In one of the boldest, most audacious moves ever made by a President of the United States, President Barack Obama is on the brink of successfully rendering moot the very first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (emphasis added). If he forces the Catholic Church to comply with the Health and Human Services ruling to provide its employees with insurance that covers activities the Church has long held sinful — abortion via the morning after pill, sterilization and contraceptives — then the precedent is clear: when religious beliefs conflict with government decrees, religion must yield.

The story line that President Obama miscalculated in picking this fight with the Catholic Church vastly underestimates the man’s political skill and ambition. His initial approval of the ruling requiring the Church pay for abortion drugs and sterilization was but the first step in a calculated strategy to further his goal of transforming America.

President Obama chose to pick this fight with the Catholic Church by choosing to release the regulations first, and then, as he explained in last Friday’s statement to the press, spend “the next year (before the new regulations take effect) to find an equitable solution that would protect religious liberty and insure that every woman has access to the care that she needs.” The alternative would have been to find the “equitable solution” before announcing the regulations. In other words, this entire political fire storm is a set-up by the Administration.

The original HHS ruling put the Catholic Church into the position of choosing one of these two options:

Option A: The Church complies with the law and violates its own teachings and principles of faith. Such a choice would strip the Church of its legitimacy and make it a de facto vassal of the state. In this case, the ability of the Church to challenge the government’s political power is vastly reduced, if not completely destroyed. Faith, charity and civil society are marginalized. Government wins.

Option B: The Church as a matter of conscience refuses to obey the law, and stops offering health insurance to its employees. In this case, the Church gets crushed by hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. As a consequence, its ability to fulfill its religious mission by funding hospitals, schools and charities is sharply reduced if not destroyed. As the Church is forced to withdraw from its active role in civil society, those who believe in government will rush to fill the void. Faith, charity and civil society are marginalized. Government wins. [More]

By Charles Kadlec

SOURCE

Forbes

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8 Comments

N Terese says:

March 13, 2012 at 6:45 am

I am ready to go to jail or die for religious liberty. I will follow Jesus, the God of LIFE, and not a pro- death, anti life president, who is dedicated to promote evil throughout the world.

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A Catholic says:

March 9, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Obama is not dumb, he’s devious and he knows what he is doing. He’ll find he’s way around this. We are on our way to dictatorship. Those who voted for Obama are getting exactly whathe is; a liar.

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- Another Catholic says:
  
  March 9, 2012 at 12:37 pm
  
  Obama’s birth place and faith have been admitted by him and his wife with a slip of the tongue. It is on youtube, look for it. Why isn’t congress pursuing this? He and his wife admitted it. She and he both said his birth place “Kenya” and he admitted to being of “muslim faith”. And, being a muslim he is determined to turn the country around. He is doing it, slowly and sneakily. Pay attention.
  
  Reply
Peggy says:

February 14, 2012 at 2:18 pm

Talk about hyperbole! Obama is far too intelligent to deliberately oppose the Catholic Church. He just miscalculated how strongly we hold to the principle of not contributing to what we consider to be occasion od sin. I believe that the fuss the Bishops and Republicans have made will cause him to back off and extend the exemption to all faith based organizations regardless of whether evangelization is their only focus. Care for the poor, the sick and the abused regardless of their faith orientation, is an essential part of the Christian mission

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John says:

February 14, 2012 at 2:12 pm

I guess all those liberal catholics that voted for Obama now can see that when you side with someone who supports fundemental evil, in terms of abortion, fetal stem cell research, and gay marriage, you can expect him to exterminate your rights to meet his goals.

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Recovering Catholic says:

February 14, 2012 at 11:04 am

This matter, of course, will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Catholic Church will win. I hope everyone will get out and vote this fall so we can get rid of this leftist dictator. Never again should we elect a president just because we want to prove we are not racists and feel guilt for the centuries of inhumane treatment of the black population. The person we elect must know what he is doing and not be a socialist or this country is headed down the drain like so many other declining countries.

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francis Joseph says:

February 14, 2012 at 10:17 am

I heard through the grapevine that Obama has a patron Saint. I couldn’t believe it. He prays to him daily. The so-called saint is……. King Henry the V111 of England, who is Obama’s role model. As Henry declare himself, “Head of the Catholic church in England,” Obama now dictates faith and morals the Catholic church and other Christian Communitys, to orthodox Jews, and muslims I’am told he is so angry that he can’t cut the Bishops’s heads off like Henry did to St. Thomas Moore, John Fishes and others. Obama, you keep praying to Henry, I’ll keep praying to Our Lady of Fatima. She brought down commuism,she’ll end your reign.

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- N Terese says:
  
  March 13, 2012 at 6:43 am
  
  I, too, am ready to go to jail or die. This persecution deeply violates my conscience. I pray to be loyal to Jesus, the Lord of LIFE!!! See you in eternity.
  
  Reply