The Anti-Catholic ACLU Is At It Again

Here is 1 more proof that the ACLU is not only anti-Catholic, it is anti 1st amendment as well. I wish to remind them what it actually says (with emphasis on the pertanent parts): "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Basically the ACLU is denying the Catholic Church &, in this particular case, the Bishops the right to free speech or free expression of the faith. They are saying that religious beliefs cannot become law.

Following their own logic, the ACLU better start pushing for a revocation of the 13th Amendment that bans slavery since the Catholic Church has condemned it since at least 1435. That year Pope Eugene IV wrote a Bull, Sicut Dudem, to Bishop Ferdinand of Lanzarote. In it he wrote to condemn the Spanish enslaving of the people of the Canary Islands. He went on to say "We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex that, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands...who have been made subject to slavery. These people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of any money..."

Then in 1537 Pope Paul III issued a Bull against slavery, entitled Sublimis Deus, sent out to the universal Church. "He (Satan) has stirred up some of his allies who, desiring to satisfy their own avarice, are presuming to assert far and wide that the Indians...be reduced to our service like brute animals, under the pretext that they are lacking the Catholic faith. And they reduce them to slavery, treating them with afflictions they would scarcely use with brute animals... by our Apostolic Authority decree and declare by these present letters that the same Indians and all other peoples - even though they are outside the faith - ...should not be deprived of their liberty... Rather they are to be able to use and enjoy this liberty and this ownership of property freely and licitly, and are not to be reduced to slavery..."

& I could go on & on about how the Catholic Church interfered in the issue of slavery by pushing for it to be banned.* According to the ACLU that would come under their definition of turning religious belief into law. So, according to the ACLU definition, any laws banning slavery are wrong. & that would include the USA's Constitutional ban on slavery.

I could also remind the ACLU that, despite their many (sometimes successful) attempts to ban displays of the 10 Commandments that many of our laws, like murder & theft, are based on the religious beliefs found there.

If the ACLU really cared about human rights & liberty they would be fighting for the rights of the unborn, not the "right" to murder them by abortion. But then, had it existed 200 years ago, I can also see the ACLU fighting to protect the "right to own slaves" against those Christians speaking out against it.

ACLU: US bishops not allowed to protest contraception coverage mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the US bishops for opposing free birth control under the new health care law, saying that the Catholic leaders “cannot interfere” into the matter “by turning their religious beliefs into federal law.”
The ACLU made the remarks in a January 12 hearing before an Institute of Medicine committee, which has been charged with determining what should be covered as preventive care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The group called birth control coverage “good medicine” and “a critical component of basic health care for women.”
“Whether the new health guidelines should mandate contraceptive coverage is not a religious question, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has argued,” read the statement, which the organization posted online. “It is critical that the guidelines that the Department of Health and Human Services issues later this year recognize the importance of birth control as preventive care and put an end to politicians and faith leaders imposing their religious beliefs on women and their families.”
“Religious leaders are free to express their belief that birth control is immoral, but they cannot interfere in our personal decision making by turning their religious beliefs into federal law and taking away access to critical health care,” the statement concluded.
The US Bishops have argued that birth control is not health care at all, but a lifestyle choice, and that mandating coverage would amount to a drastic infringement of the conscience rights of employers and insurance issuers.
In November, Dierdre McQuade, Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged against contraception and sterilization coverage, saying that, “To prevent pregnancy is not to prevent a disease.”
“Indeed, contraception and sterilization pose their own unique and serious health risks to women and adolescents,” said McQuade. In addition, she noted that birth control, while not curing any disease itself has been linked to increased risk of stroke, heart attack and blood clots, making a coverage mandate “in contradiction with itself.”
In addition, while employers are currently free to purchase and offer health coverage that excludes contraception, “They would lose this freedom of conscience under a mandate for all plans to offer contraception and sterilization coverage,” McQuade said, making President Obama’s claim that Americans can keep their current coverage unchanged “a hollow pledge.”
The USCCB’s Office of the General Counsel, in a September letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also said such a coverage requirement “would pose an unprecedented threat to rights of conscience.”
An aggressive campaign for taxpayer coverage of contraception has also been launched by Planned Parenthood, which would directly benefit from a steady source of taxpayer funding of contraception.
In a radio appearance last October, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said that federal officials should consider birth control coverage a good investment because preventing children from being born would reduce the government cost burden.
“Unlike some other issues of cost, birth control is one of those issues that actually saves the government money,” Richards told DC radio host Bill Press. “So an investment in covering birth control actually in the long run is a huge cost savings because women don’t have children that they weren’t planning on having and all the sort of attendant cost for unplanned pregnancy.”
The decision on preventive care coverage is expected to be announced by HHS in August.

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* See Slavery and the Catholic Church from A Catholic Response for more. (Note: This online pamphlet was given an IMPRIMATUR by the Most Reverend Fabian W. Bruskewitz, D.D., S.T.D., Bishop of Lincoln on 3 November 1999)

Yes, I will admit that, sadly, many Catholics, including Bishops ignored the clear teaching of the Popes on slavery. Just like many are ignoring the clear teaching on abortion & birth control these days. the more things change, the more they stay the same.