Catholic Bishops Wanted Government Shutdown, Asked House Republicans To Hold Nation Hostage

America’s Catholic Bishops wrote a letter urging House Republicans to shut down the government, unless Obamacare denies birth control coverage to women. Photo of Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan from Wikipedia.

It is not just the evangelical Christians organizations mentioned in a post yesterday who have had a hand it forcing the federal government shutdown and pushing the nation towards a catastrophic debt default.   Other religious extremists have also been involved: the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops.  Pope Francis may want the Church to get over its obsession with gays, abortion, and contraception, but the message hasn't been received by the U.S. Catholic bishops, many of whom have sheltered and protected sexual predators while kicking abuse victims to the curb and hiding Church assets.  As reported here, the bishops have urged the GOP to shutdown the government:

When House Republicans shut down the government last Tuesday, they did so with the blessing of Catholic bishops. One week prior to the shutdown, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter to the GOP House. The letter asked them to hold America hostage until Democrats kill birth control rules set by the White House. The rules require insurance companies to include birth control coverage for all employees, regardless of the religious beliefs of employers.

This didn’t sit well with Catholic bishops and conservative Christians, who want the right to deny their female employees contraception. So as part of their ongoing temper tantrum over women having access to birth control, the bishops sent a letter  to House Republicans urging them to shut the government down until they get their way on contraception coverage.

“[W]e have already urged you to enact the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940/S. 1204), the letter declared. “As Congress considers a Continuing Resolution and debt ceiling bill in the days to come, we reaffirm the vital importance of incorporating the policy of this bill into such ‘must-pass’ legislation.”

The Conference of Catholic Bishops wants the government shutdown to continue, and for the US to default on its debt … Unless they get special treatment in regards to birth control access. To deny women contraception, they’re willing to deny families critical food assistance, take childcare away from working parents, and threaten the financial well-being of millions of Americans. It totally outrageous.

According to ThinkProgress,

“The “Health Care Conscience Rights Act” permits religious employers to exclude any “item or service to which [they have] a moral or religious objection” from the health insurance package offered to employees.”

If this piece of conservative legislation were to become law, any employer in America could deny female employees the contraception they need. All they have to do is claim that they have a religious objection. It means women will have less access to contraception. It also lets religious conservatives achieve their main goal to control women’s reproductive decisions.

This letter proves Catholic bishops played a role in the government shutdown. They cheered for House Republicans to pull the trigger and shoot America in the foot. They also want Republicans to shoot America in the head, and refuse to raise the debt ceiling … Unless Democrats allow religious employers to discriminate against women. The fact is, the contraception mandate applies to everyone. That’s why it’s constitutional. 

House Republicans are now not the only ones to blame for the government shutdown. Americans can now blame Catholic bishops as well. The bishops are clearly not interested in alleviating the suffering of those affected most by the government shutdown as they are in making sure they can have a say in what reproductive decisions women make.

As I have argued before, the Catholic Church needs to stay out of politics or lose its tax-exempt status.  Period.  These men participated in a world wide criminal conspiracy involving the sexual abuse of children and youths and now they want to destroy America's economy to further their sick, extremist goals.