Okay, I really want to talk more about writing than politics, but some things get under my skin. I will admit from the git-go that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrat, so I come with certain biases. I am also an active Cradle Catholic with deeply held religious beliefs.
That being said, I resent Corporate America using the term "religious freedom" to justify not providing contraception in their health insurance plans. We're not talking condoms here, we're talking about safe, effective birth control. I think most of America is past "barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen." While it's not anyone's business, women need contraception for a variety of reasons including health risks. Some women simply shouldn't get pregnant or they risk the health, or even the life, of mother, child, or both. Should they be denied sexual intimacy? Without effective birth control, abstinence is the only reliable way to avoid pregnancy.
Some women aren't ready for children or don't want children.Should we tell them how to behave in the privacy of their home? Do women, simply because they are the ones who bear children, not have the right to sexual pleasure without the fear of an unwanted or unwise pregnancy? What gives one the right to insist people behave according to a narrow moral idea? And that is not my only concern about "religious freedom" dictating the right to set policy in any place except those that are religious institutions.
It raises the serious question of, "Whose religious beliefs?" Suppose my employer, or lawmaker, or school superintendent, or corporate CEO is Jehovah's Witness. Can he or she prevent any form of healthcare to be available? Can these same religious beliefs dictate employment, personal behavior, school or company policy? It's slicing the baloney. Use religious freedom to justify one thing at a time, things that seem either reasonable or inconsequential. Now you have precedence. It is suddenly much more difficult to prevent an infringement on the very rights they claim to be trying to protect.
When conservatives tell me they think there should be prayer in school, I ask them, "Whose prayer?" I'm Catholic. Can we start the day with a Hail Mary? What if the teacher is Hindu or Buddhist, Muslim or Jew, Wicca or Pagan? What they usually mean is Protestant prayer and a Protestant Bible. I'm often told that everyone prays the Our Father. Do they? Really?
Few people understand the right to religious freedom given to us in the Constitution of the United States. It doesn't mean that we have the right to make others live according to our religious dictates. Quite the opposite. The First Amendment was written to prevent the government from instituting a State religion, to prevent anyone from telling another they must live by a certain religious criterion.
This Amendment is very important to me. I am a resident of North Carolina and can remember open prejudice against Roman Catholics. The State Constitution still prohibits from Office "any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God." While no longer enforced (since mid-20th century), it is still on the books. In fact, one had to swear that he believed in all the doctrine of the Protestant faith. The first Catholic to hold office got around this by saying there was nothing in the Protestant faith that conflicted with Catholic doctrine, therefore he could, in good conscience, take the oath. Cute way around it, but my point is, where do we draw the line? When will someone decide to start enforcing that part of our constitution? If we are honest, every religion, every faith, every denomination, has something with which we disagree. Allowing faith to set policy anywhere outside the legal jurisdiction of that church violates the constitution allowing free exercise of religion.
Okay, I'm stepping down from my soapbox now.
No comments:
Post a Comment