Showing posts with label Kathleen Sebelius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathleen Sebelius. Show all posts

Friday, May 2, 2014

Barack Obama on Religious Liberty


To commemorate the 62nd annual National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation.  The text of Mr. Obama's 2014 proclamation touted religious liberty and those being persecuted for their convictions.

Those are noble sentiments, if only they were observed.  Dennis Miller has quipped that citizens who disagree with Mr. Obama are often treated worse then his enemies.  The Obama Administration has been adamant about enforcing the Contraception Mandate upon religiously oriented organizations (but not churches themselves) which find abortifacients abhorrent.  

The U.S. Supreme Court  may decide on the constitutionality of this Contraception Mandate when it rules on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby in June.   Nonetheless, Dr. James Dobson of Family Talk (and previously the founder of Focus on the Family), used his remarks at the 2014 National Day of Prayer to underline how deeply he finds Obama's abortion mandate offense and that he will fight for his religious freedom.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops will be sponsoring their third Fortnight for Freedom from June 21st to July 4th.  This year, the Fortnight for Freedom  will focus on the freedom to serve the poor and vulnerable in accord with human dignity and the Church's teaching.  But living one's faith outside of the doors of the Church requires religious liberty.  

If we relied upon words alone, one might conclude that the Obama White House has experienced a metanoia and respects religious liberty.  But in the real world, actions speak louder than words. 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

"Reid Between the Lines" Anti Papist Bigotry at MSNBC




When MSNBC was reporting on the Hobby Lobby which was going to be argued before the US Supreme Court, Joy Reid's video package included some naked Catholic bigotry.



Rather than settle for arguing the merits of Sebilius v. Hobby Lobby  for the State (as is MSDNC's wont) on whether corporate personhood can include religious convictions, Joy Reid impeached the credentials of two thirds of the nation's highest court based on religion.

While Reid's legal analysis might acknowledge the  Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, she is blissfully ignorant of Article VI paragraph 3 of the Constitution regarding no religious test.

Catholic Supreme Court Justices 2013-2014 session




To think that an originalist like Associate Justice Antonin Scalia or natural law jurist like Associate Justice Clarence Thomas would vote en bloc with their wise Latina co-religionist Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor is drinking liberally spiked Kool-Aid around the ugly fever swamp.

Jeff Dunetz observed that MSNBC is hypersensitive about racial implications.  So if court commentators hypothetically opined about three African American judges voting together, this would be condemned as racism.  Dunetz, who writes Yid with Lid, noted: "However because Joy Reid was questioning Catholic judges, it’s no big deal.  In the world of the  mainstream media it’s only bigotry when directed toward certain groups, blacks, women, Muslims, Hispanics, etc.".  Yet liberals are quick to condemn conservatives for supposedly judging people because of their race or creed.

Jeff Dunetz observed that MSNBC is hypersensitive about racial implications.  So if court commentators hypothetically opined about three African American judges voting together, this would be condemned as racism.  Dunetz, who writes Yid with Lid, noted: "However because Joy Reid was questioning Catholic judges, it’s no big deal.  In the world of the  mainstream media it’s only bigotry when directed toward certain groups, blacks, women, Muslims, Hispanics, etc.".  Yet liberals are quick to condemn conservatives for supposedly judging people because of their race or creed.

It is sad that unwarranted accusations against certain groups of faithful, such as Roman Catholics or Latter Day Saints (Mormons) are accepted by progressive posses but judging the actions and expressed intentions of Salaphist or Jihadist Muslims is quickly condemned as "racism".

Ms. Reid's read of the Catholic cabal on the Supreme Court proved to be quite mistaken.  Arguments before the high court had Justices gravitating their questions from ideological and gender groupings, not from shared creed.

Sketch of Solicitor General Donald Verrelli arguing Sebelilius v. Hobby Lobby at US Supreme Court 


In fact, based upon early reporting, the more overt allusions to applications of faith to legal hypotheticals was a question from Associate Justice Samuel Alito , who queried Solicitor General Donald Verrelli (arguing the Obama Administration's case) whether halal or kosher butchers could be banned if legislators passed an animal cruelty law like Denmark.  Verrelli's answer was that they could get standing with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but they better get their cases to court by raising claims on behalf of their customers using the First Amendment.

While CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called Verrelli's two hours of arguments a "train wreck" for the Obama Administration, other liberal commentators dissented.

Let us hope that in late June when the contraception cases are likely to be issued that the Lamestream Media can contain their contemptible secularist biogotry against the faithful.  But that is expecting a minor miracle from the media.


h/t:  Hot Air
      Yid with Lid
      SCOTUS Blog
    WSJ Washington Wire