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Bishops, priests and other Roman Catholics who say religious liberty is under mortal threat are raising the alarm through a two-week series prayers, vigils, “patriotic rosary” recitals and tributes to Catholic martyrs.
Catholic leaders have been promoting the national campaign — called the “Fortnight for Freedom” — with pamphlets and Web pages emblazoned in red-white-and-blue lettering. It began Thursday with activities in conjunction with the vigil to Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation era.
Church leaders protest a new federal mandate that most employees, including those of faith-based charities, universities and hospitals, receive free contraception coverage in the health-care law.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz urged every parish to do at least one activity on a list of recommendations — from sermons to bulletin inserts to special vigils.
“It is something that we need to be vigilant about,” Kurtz said in an interview. It’s a “heretofore never-imposed requirement that an entity such as Catholic Charities … would be required to actually fund directly or indirectly objectionable services.”
James Salt, executive director of the national liberal group Catholics United, said that the bishops have “moved the goal posts in how they define the violation of a moral teaching” in their contention that the government, by requiring contraception coverage, is coercing faith-based institutions to act against their conscience.
He cited an analysis by Cathleen Kaveny, who teaches law and theology at the University of Notre Dame. She wrote in Commonweal magazine that bishops are trying to “have it both ways” by claiming the rights granted to religious minorities to be left alone — then insisting on the right to have be an “influential force in the moral mainstream.”
A majority of Americans, including Catholics, do not believe religious liberty is under assault, according to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. And about six-tenths of Catholics, like a majority of all Americans, believe faith-based charities, hospitals and social-service agencies should comply with the contraception mandate.
White Catholics in particular, however, are more evenly divided on these questions, and a majority of evangelical Protestants believe religious liberty is under assault. Protestant, Orthodox Christian and Muslim religious leaders signed a letter along with Catholic leaders assailing the mandate as an infringement on religious liberty.
The Rev. Paul Simmons, a Baptist pastor and head of the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, also criticized the Fortnight.
“This is entirely predictable as an organized effort on the part of the Catholic Church to shift the meaning of the First Amendment from protecting individual rights to protecting the rights as defined by the church,” he said.
Since most people get health care though their employers, he contended that religious employers who refuse to provide parts of health coverage are essentially denying their availability.
But Francis Manion of Bardstown, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said liberals should share conservatives’ fears of assaults on religious liberty. He cited the impact of Alabama’s immigration law could have on churches suspected of harboring illegal aliens and of some cities’ restrictions on homeless feeding programs.
“It’s not a left-right thing,” said Manion.
Stay tuned for more coverage.