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Last week, the New York Times published a poll showing serious declines in support for President Obama. The story mentioned that the poll showed female Republican primary voters were supporting Rick Santorum. The story also claimed that “women were split as to whether health insurance plans should cover the costs of birth control and whether employers with religious objections should be able to opt out.”
In recent weeks, there have been a number of major news stories that have — to one degree or another — pivoted on the sharp doctrinal divisions among American Catholics. Think religious liberty vs. the Health and Human Services rules. Think about the case of Father Marcel Guarnizo and the Buddhist-Catholic-artist-gay-activist Barbara Johnson.
Several things are becoming clearer here in Beltway-land, as coverage continues of the clash between Father Marcel Guarnizo and the Buddhist-Catholic-artist-gay-activist Barbara Johnson. Before addressing a few key themes, here’s the top of the recent Washington Post article that covered the latest development in the case.
On one level, it’s easy to say that private colleges and universities are voluntary associations and, thus, can limit the freedoms of their students, faculty and staff in a wide variety of ways. After all, students do not have to study there, teachers do not have to teach there and staff members do not have to work there.
Just last week, I praised a Washington Post story that â in a fair, respectful way â managed to personalize black ministers who (a) fought for racial equality and (b) oppose same-sex marriage.
But before we get into that, raise your cyber-hands if you think one of the most important stories in the year — think religious liberty, think higher education, think politics — is the growing evidence of deep, bitter rifts inside American Catholicism linked to (a) basic matters of doctrine and (b) the degree to which people practice the faith (the old reality of the “pew gap” statistics) in sacraments and worship?
A Los Angeles Times profile this week of a would-be Kansas abortion doctor follows a pretty straightforward path.
Many weeks ago, we noticed that the discussion over the Obama Administration’s new rule (to force religious groups to fund things to which they’re doctrinally opposed) was being framed in two different ways. One side framed it as a religious liberty issue, since the federal government is telling religious groups to go against their religious teachings. The other side, because the Obama Administration is forcing religious groups to fund sterilization, abortifacients and contraception, framed it as an “access to contraception” issue.
