There is a significant effort running in the mainstream media to obfuscate the truth. The truth is Obama’s HHS mandate crushes freedom of religion by forcing not only our laity, but charities, hospitals, schools, universities and other faith-based organizations to fund the grave evils of abortion (through abortifacients) and sterilization. There are no applicable exceptions (absolutely none).
That is a rough narrative, too difficult to report without making the administration look bad (which no one cares about) and loosing votes (which they do). So, the media has changed the narrative. “It is all about contraceptives!” “The Catholic bishops do not want you to have access to the pill!!!”
When many people hear that, they will conclude it is no big deal – including most Catholics. Many will look no further, having been successfully misled by the media. It is an ingenious ploy that we must not allow to succeed. Here it is in action:
(This video is no longer available.)
The piece also features a White House spokesman, saying “tough beans” (listen very carefully to what he says) which CNN spins into an “offer of compromise.” There is no such offer and even if there were, we can not compromise on the truth of our faith. Millions will see that one piece and hundreds or thousands more reports just like it. Please, do not let them frame this naked attack on religious freedom that way. The truth is:
Why should you be staunchly opposed to this aggression against the American people?
- Everyone: it is a direct, unprecedented attack on a fundamental freedom (the very first in the Bill of Rights)
- Everyone: it is a further encroachment of government against your liberty, removing your freedom of choice and abridging your rights
- Religious: it forces the will of God into second place behind the will of secular government
- Religious: you fund and promote the culture of death; there is no opt-out
You can stop reading now, unless you are interested in the 2nd big lie that is.
The Obama administration’s attack on fundamental religious freedom raises the issue of contraceptives. Fine, maybe this is an opportunity for God to bring good from evil. Odds are that you, dear reader, use birth control. I am not judging you and know that you have your reasons. This stuff costs money and Obama is offering you a free pony (or so you think, you poor misled soul). You may support Church teaching in most areas, but think that “they” got it wrong on this point.
Let me offer a counter point from a secular source: Business Insider. Of all places, this is not one you would expect to care what the Church thinks – and they don’t. Yet, they look at the facts with integrity and surprise themselves!
Painting the Catholic Church as “out of touch” is like shooting fish in a barrel, what with the funny hats and gilded churches. And nothing makes it easier than the Church’s stance against contraception.
Many people, (including our editor) are wondering why the Catholic Church doesn’t just ditch this requirement. They note that most Catholics ignore it, and that most everyone else finds it divisive, or “out-dated.” C’mon! It’s the 21st century, they say! Don’t they SEE that it’s STUPID, they scream.
Here’s the thing, though: the Catholic Church is the world’s biggest and oldest organization. It has buried all of the greatest empires known to man, from the Romans to the Soviets. It has establishments literally all over the world, touching every area of human endeavor. It’s given us some of the world’s greatest thinkers, from Saint Augustine on down to René Girard. When it does things, it usually has a good reason. Everyone has a right to disagree, but it’s not that they’re a bunch of crazy old white dudes who are stuck in the Middle Ages.
So, what’s going on?
The Church teaches that love, marriage, sex, and procreation are all things that belong together. That’s it. But it’s pretty important. And though the Church has been teaching this for 2,000 years, it’s probably never been as salient as today.
Today’s injunctions against birth control were re-affirmed in a 1968 document by Pope Paul VI called Humanae Vitae. He warned of four results if the widespread use of contraceptives was accepted:
- General lowering of moral standards
- A rise in infidelity, and illegitimacy
- The reduction of women to objects used to satisfy men.
- Government coercion in reproductive matters.
Does that sound familiar?
Because it sure sounds like what’s been happening for the past 40 years.
As George Akerloff wrote in Slate over a decade ago,
By making the birth of the child the physical choice of the mother, the sexual revolution has made marriage and child support a social choice of the father.
Instead of two parents being responsible for the children they conceive, an expectation that was held up by social norms and by the law, we now take it for granted that neither parent is necessarily responsible for their children. Men are now considered to be fulfilling their duties merely by paying court-ordered child-support. That’s a pretty dramatic lowering of standards for “fatherhood.”
Read the whole article: Time To Admit It: The Church Has Always Been Right On Birth Control. There is more and it is surprising considering the source.
Another good article on “the big lie” (mainstream media changing the narrative to something they can successfully defend) comes from Kathleen Parker at North County Times. Her piece is: This isn’t about The Pill.
