The Dangerous “New-speak” of Modern Progressives: A Catholic Call to Action
Freedom and Law, Life and Disease, Contraception and Abortion
Our government, arguing for the current HHS “Obamacare” mandate that includes contraceptive coverage, sees no guarantee of freedom of religion for “secular entities”, allowing such freedom only to churches. HERE is a summary. The Justice Department stated to the judge that “for-profit, secular employers generally do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.” “A secular entity by definition does not practice religion,” the Obama administration argued.
This is astounding to me. I am a “secular entity.” Hence I have no freedom of religion. It seems that (for now) a church has some freedom to gather on Sundays and pray and talk about religion – but the people in the pews have the freedom to live only such religion that the government permits. This administration believes that it knows, better than our God, what my social obligations are. Federal law supersedes moral law, and God.
Defending the HHS mandate, administration attorneys added:
Lack of contraceptive use has proven in many cases to have negative health consequences for both women and a developing fetus … Accordingly, through the requirement that health coverage includes coverage for contraceptive services without cost-sharing, defendants seek to further an indisputably compelling interest in the promotion of women’s health and the health of potential newborn children.
Let’s get this straight: “lack of contraception has negative health consequences for both women…” – that is, pregnancy for the woman is equivalent to disease, or illness – “and a developing fetus” – that is, the child in the womb would be better off never having been conceived. A child in the womb, created by God in the divine image, possesses a life that is for him or her a terminal disease calling for the cure of death. The Orwellian “new-speak” that we have come to, is breathtaking.
Their argument for the good of contraception continued:
Contraceptive coverage, by reducing the number of unintended and potentially unhealthy pregnancies, furthers the goal of eliminating this disparity by allowing women to achieve equal status as healthy and productive members of the job force … Congress’s attempt to equalize the provision of preventive health care services, with the resultant benefit of women being able to contribute to the same degree as men as healthy and productive members of society, furthers a compelling governmental interest.
We hear, here, one of the root faults in the logic of this progressivism (for lack of a better word, for now): the reduction of man to a social instrument. The government concern is for “healthy and productive members of the job force.” In the culture of death, man is not a person having eternal meaning and destiny but a worker-cell in the organism of society. Government does not exist for the sake of man, as the Church teaches, but rather man exists for the sake of society as determined by government. This dark philosophy at the foundations of fascism, and communism – and all tyranny – is getting clearer and clearer to be the foundations for modern progressivism as well.
The philosophical and practical link between contraception and abortion, seen by the Church for some time now, is also made plain in this court argument. The administration lawyers explained, “Plan B and similar drugs” work in three ways:
“by delaying or inhibiting ovulation,and/or
altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova (thereby inhibiting fertilization), and/or
altering the endometrium (thereby inhibiting implantation).”
Thus the mandated drugs act to contracept (#1 and 2) and/or abort (#3). Abortion and contraception are merely two forms of “health coverage” deserved by worker-women and their potentially and/or unfortunately conceived babies.
The Homosexual Equivalence
The Democrats seem to be testing the waters for a plank in the 2012 platform supporting homosexual marriage, as President Obama now openly does. Already, polygamists are watching to see how this goes, because if “marriage” can be redefined to let homosexual unions in, why not polygamy also? And why not two men and three women (“polyamory”) in a group marriage? Marriage is the foundational unit of a society. When marriage itself disintegrates, the family and the home do also, to the grave harm of future generations. The larger society, like a house built on cards, then falls with the wind. American families have been under attack from many sides, for some time. This latest insult, and attack, may be the final and irreversible one. May God help us.
Polls can be misleading, granted. But HERE’S ONE STUDY:
53% of Catholics supported the idea of same-sex marriage, while the general public is evenly divided on the issue.
56% of Catholics did not believe sexual relations between two adults of the same gender constituted a sin, compared to 46 percent of the general population.
60% of Catholics favored adoption rights for same-sex couples
49% think gays should be allowed to be ordained as clergy
American Catholics tended to be more liberal than evangelical and mainline Protestants
There has been a gulf on social issues between church teachings and the American laity since the mid-1970s on subjects such as abortion, divorce without an annulment, premarital sex and artificial contraception. “Catholics make up their own minds about these moral issues irrespective – or almost in spite of – what the bishops and official church teachings say,” one commentator said.
An Election is Coming
Dear brother and sister Catholics, these are very dangerous times. This coming election, now less than 100 days away, is perhaps the most significant one certainly in our lifetimes, because the choice is so stark. The Democratic Party used to be the knee-jerk party of choice for most Catholics – a party of the disadvantaged, the marginalized, the powerless. Today, it is something very, very different. If Catholics in this country voted with a well-formed Catholic faith and conscience, America would be a different place today – and would be headed toward a very different destiny. As it is, America is heading toward a post-Christian neo-paganism, where the tyranny of moral relativism rules and traditional morality will be seen as criminal bigotry. Such a future is not yet irreversible! May God give us faithfulness, and renewal!
Thomas Richard
