Catholic Bishops: ‘Religious Liberty’ Includes Right To Discriminate Against Gay People, Impose Values

If nothing else, the U. S. Roman Catholic bishops are becoming a little bit more honest: they are finally admitting that their goal is to impose their warped and unloving beliefs on all of us. And the vehicle being used to further this agenda is the false banner of "religious liberty." Religious liberty for the bishops and similar religious extremists and a loss of religious freedom for everyone else. Why do I say this? Because in a new statement the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has openly admitted that they believe that they have the right to impose their beliefs on all of society. Apparently, rather than address the still rampant problem of sexual predators among the ranks of the clergy, the bishops seek to ride rough shod over all of us - hoping it would seem that somehow the the laity will be duped into forgetting about the utter moral bankruptcy that permeates the Church hierarchy. Zack Ford at Think Progress looks at this development. Here are some highlights:

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a new Statement on Religious Liberty, which complains that the Catholic Church should have a right to impose its values on fellow citizens “for the common good.” The long, wordy statement includes a list of “concrete examples” of how “religious liberty” has supposedly been compromised that includes when university campus groups are not allowed to discriminate against gay students and when Catholic Charities isn’t allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples. It then reiterates an oft-heard threat that the Catholic Church should be able to impose its public services however it pleases or it won’t at all:

Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas.

The statement also has the gall to invoke Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” suggesting that any restrictions on the Church’s free reign over society are “unjust” laws. Claiming not to ask “for special treatment,” the statement nevertheless encourages Catholics to intentionally disobey any laws that prevent the Church from imposing its will. Given its will so often includes policies that discriminate against women and the LGBT community, this is a complete bastardization of King’s intent. . . . The Catholic hierarchy has repeatedly demonstrated that it only cares about its own dominance over society, a perspective anathema to addressing “injustice anywhere.”

If one really cares about religious liberty, one of the most important goals should be to end the political influence of the Catholic bishops and other religious leaders who market hate and intolerance against other citizens.