Obama vs Catholic Doctrine

Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to wind up in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what's happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health-care law.

Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems destined either to leave supporters in the reproductive-rights community irate or to put the president's Catholic sympathizers in a much weakened position.

When Congress enacted health-care reform, it left to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the job of determining which preventive services for women insurance plans would be required to include. In August, the administration announced interim rules requiring coverage for contraceptive services without co-pays or deductibles. It provided an exemption from this requirement to "religious employers," but the exemption was so narrow that it largely left out Catholic hospitals, universities and other church-affiliated institutions.

Although this was only an interim rule, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops immediately denounced it, and Catholics who had supported the health-care law were taken by surprise. It's astonishing that the administration acted without closely consulting Sister Carol Keehan, the brave president of the Catholic Health Association who backed the health-care bill despite the opposition it drew from the bishops' conference. Her support — along with help from other social-justice Catholics such as Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) — was crucial to getting the law through.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Catholicism
• Barack Obama
• Health Care
• Health Care Bill

[davecienpies]

get a haircut and brush your teeth

[wiiiilbur]

@davecienpies My hair and teeth are clean, numnut

[MrRickywallace]

I've heard that. He says that he's a Christian, but it's hard to believe. This action against the Church is in the Obamacare healthcare program. Let' s rally against him and defeat him or we're going to be in terrible condition.

[wiiiilbur]

@MrRickywallace I believe that Obama thinks he is a great innovator. He is not. He is just a one term president who will be used as an example to school children in future generations.

[DillonDee1]

There MUST be a separation of Church & State.

The Govt has absolutely no business FORCING people to go against their basic religious beliefs.

The conntroversy about Birth Control Pills is bad enough, but what was far more egregious & inexcusable was when our govt prohibited Mormons from practicing polygamy - a very central belief.

It even caused Mormons to leave the USA - including Romney's ancestors.

[wiiiilbur]

@DillonDee1 Exactly! I made a joke about that this morning but that's the real issue. What do you do with a Muslim who has four wives and comes here to work. . . annul three wives? The issue is simple; no body in their right mind goes to a Catholic institution asking for birth control, just like you don't go to a Synagog and ask for a ham sandwich.

[Guala7Joka]

LIKE LIKE LIKE, well respected man here. I agree wit wat he totalli says

[icimblind]

I just looked up this information. Approximately 62% of 60 million women in the U.S. use birth control. So that would roughly be 37 million women.

If you use Fluke's cost for birth control $1,000 X 37,000,000 = $37,000,000,000

That's right, she & Obama want the tax payers & Church to pay 37 Billion dollars per yr

for other people's contraception, but why stop there? What about "men's health care", condoms?

How many billions of dollars is that going to cost the tax payers and Church??

[cmgbeme]

IS OBAMA FORCING MUSLIMS TO EAT PIGS ?

[cmgbeme]

@pinksbaby SMH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS AGAINST PRE MARITAL SEX WHAT DO YOU NEED BIRTH CONTROL, CONDOMS AND ABORTION FOR WHEN YOU ARE MARRIED? WHY WOULD A CATHOLIC SCHOOL OR ORGANIZATION HAND OUT CONDOMS WHEN WE ARE AGAINST IT

[cmgbeme]

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OPEN CHURCHES FOR CHARITABLE REASONS TO SERVE GOD NOT TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST GOD

[MrRevricky]

Dude - you ROCK! Absolutely right on!

[vdarte]

Screw the bishops with their fancy gowns and jewelry. They should go sit on their pointy hats.