“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,” Cardinal-designate Dolan said.
On January 20, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Health and Human Services, announced that non-profit employers will have one year to comply with the new rule.
Cardinal-designate Dolan urged Catholics and the public at large to speak out in protest.
“Let your elected leaders know that you want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and that you want the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded,” he said.
Decades ago, when politics and religion were removed from the general discourse, our country began to take a turn for the worse.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that people of faith and conscience continue to adhere to the ideas that you should never talk about religion and politics, and similarly that you shouldn't mix politics and religion.
Our founders knew that only by creating a government based on belief in God, and adhering to God's Natural Law, could the United States avoid the pitfalls of the monarchies, dictatorships, and other forms of authoritarian government prevalent throughout Europe.
We have strayed from their wisdom. By eliminating the powerful influence of Faith, our country has spiraled downward to a point where Bioethicists compare terminating human life to weeding a garden, and it doesn't even make the headlines. Participation in and acceptance of abortion is being forced upon everyone, regardless of religious convictions, and our pulpits are silent.
Until we become a people brave enough to say we've had enough, we will continue to have our rights stripped from us, and our freedoms destroyed. That applies to us as individuals, as Americans, and as Catholics.
We must become brave enough to bring our faith to the forefront and stand for what we believe in.
We must unapologetically base our political decisions on our foundations of faith and morality, and not back down when confronted by those who wish to eliminate faith from the public square.
We must discard the humanistic, progressive idea that politics and religion shouldn't mix, and embrace the fact that if we want a Godly leader we must ask God for His guidance in choosing that leader.
A first step is to follow our conscience, rather than the theology of political correctness and refuse to follow this unjust law. The consequences of refusing it are earthly. The consequences of betraying our conscience are eternal.