The gift of liberty, especially the gift to live our faith fully and freely is one of the unique and priceless gifts of living in the United States. Our Founding Fathers, in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, listed as the first of all the inalienable rights owed to the human person the right to freedom of religion. This wisdom of our Founding Fathers, however, although unique in the establishment of a government for the people by the people, was nothing new. The right to freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience was a right long expressed and upheld in the Catholic Tradition and was a right that was fought for, even to the death, by many Catholics throughout the centuries.
One saint that comes immediately to mind is St. Thomas Becket, the 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury who was martyred by King Henry II for standing up to the attempts of the crown to interfere with the inherent rights and privileges of the Church and for the right to freedom of religion and conscience for all the English Catholics of his day. Even Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball, in reaction to the recent HHS mandate, recalled the story of St. Thomas Becket and St. Thomas More as instances of the state interfering with religious freedom. “I guess I grew up watching movies like ‘Becket’ and ‘A Man for All Seasons’ and seeing the church and state go to war with each other and being told stories from the Old Testament about the Maccabees, about people, families being told you got to eat pork…It gets to that interesting point for me, which is frightening, when the state tells the church what to do.”
In our modern times, the Church has also had much to say about the right to freedom of religion and conscience, especially in a time where religious freedom and conscience is often trampled upon in many areas of the world. In response to this, the Second Vatican Council issued a decree Dignitatis Humanae on religious freedom. In this decree, the Council states:
This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits. The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself. This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right. (2)
This gift and right to religious freedom has been a right that has been cherished throughout our country’s history. It is precisely because of this right and its protection under law, that our country has been able to prosper, and it is also the reason that the Catholic Church has so flourished in our country over the last 236 years. However, this right to religious liberty and the right to our freedom of conscience can never be taken for granted. Recently, there have been ever steadily growing in our country, many serious threats to our freedom of religion and our freedom of conscience.
This all came to a head at the end of January when the Department of Health and Human Services mandated that all health insurance coverage include “preventive health benefits” that include contraception, sterilization, and even some abortion causing drugs such as the morning after pill. This time around, the Obama Administration is not including any conscience protection clause that would allow religious institutions, including Catholic institutions, to opt out of such coverage. This is a blatant and direct attack upon the freedom of conscience of millions of Catholics and others who hold that these “benefits” are intrinsically immoral, and therefore a denial of our freedom of religion and free practice thereof as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. This cannot stand! We must act to see that this unjust and immoral mandate is repealed!
Unfortunately, although the most blatant, it is not the first instance of an increasingly hostile stance toward religious freedom in our country. In fact, the concerns about religious freedom and the growing attack on religious and moral beliefs, especially those of Roman Catholics, moved Bishop William Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut to testify back in October before the House Judiciary Committee on the increasing threats to freedom of religion and conscience in the United States, which particularly affects those who live and uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church. As a part his testimony, Bishop Lori stated:
The United States stands strongly for the principle that these rights of freedom are also rights of equality — that government should not impose any special civil disadvantages or otherwise discriminate against its citizens based on religion. And although it may not have always lived up to this or other religious freedom principles in practice, our country’s unique capacity for self-correction has always provided avenues to repair to these principles that have made it a great nation.
Regrettably, now is the time for such self-correction and repair. In the recent past, the Bishops of the United States have watched with increasing alarm as this great national legacy of religious liberty, so profoundly in harmony with our own teachings, has been subject to ever more frequent assault and ever more rapid erosion....I am here today to call to your attention grave threats to religious liberty that have emerged even since June — grim validations of the Bishops’ recognition of the need for urgent and concerted action in this area. I focus on these because most of them arise under federal law, and so may well be the subject of corrective action by Congress.
Among some of the threats to religious freedom and conscience, Bishop Lori listed:
1. In August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandated certain preventive services, including contraceptives and abortifacients to be included in all private health care insurance plans without adequate conscience protections. (And now that has been changed to no conscience protections at all!)
2. In May, HHS added a new requirement to its cooperative agreements and government contracts for services to victims of human trafficking and to refugees who are unaccompanied minors, so that otherwise highly qualified service providers, such as USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, will be barred from participation in the program because they cannot in conscience provide the “full range” of reproductive services-namely, abortion and contraception.
3. The State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development is increasingly requiring contractors, such as Catholic Relief Services, to provide comprehensive HIV prevention activities (including condom distribution), as well as full integration of its programs with reproductive health activities (including provision of artificial contraception) in a range of international relief and development programs. This is limiting the work that Catholic organizations such as CRS can do.
4. The Federal Department of Justice has ratcheted up its attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by mischaracterizing it as an act of bigotry. If the label of “bigot” sticks to our Church and many other churches, especially in court, under the Constitution-because of their teaching on marriage, the result will be church-state conflicts for many years to come.
5. At the state level, religious liberty protections associated with the redefinition of marriage have fallen far short of what is necessary. In New York, county clerks face legal action for refusing to participate in same-sex unions, and in Illinois, Catholic Charities has been driven out of the adoption and foster care business, because it recognizes the unique value of man-woman marriage for the well-being of children.
These are serious threats to religious freedom and freedom of conscience not only for Catholics, but they undermine one of the most fundamental and inalienable human rights that has been the cornerstone of our nation since its very beginnings. Therefore, we as Catholics must be aware of these important issues and exercise our right to participate in the public square to ensure that our religious freedom and freedom of conscience are protected and defended. This is not just a Catholic issue, but an issue that affects the common good and our very society and country.
In addition to testifying before Congress regarding the threat to religious liberty, Bishop Lori also announced at the U.S. Bishops’ Meeting in November the formation of the new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty at the USCCB. The focus of the committee is to highlight and promote religious freedom, especially as expressed in Dignitatis Humanae. Bishop Lori explained that the first task of the committee will be to address the “erosion of our religious liberties in the United States,” particularly in instances in which religious freedom is “deemed a second-class right, subordinate to so-called ‘rights’ of abortion and same-sex ‘marriage,’ which are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.” The formation of this new committee is further evidence of the growing concern in the Church regarding the increasing threats to religious liberty in our culture and society.
What are we to do about all of this? The first thing we must do is pray. These issues are the result of a society that is increasingly drifting away from God and therefore is becoming increasingly separated from faith and basic moral principles. The solution to these problems is ultimately going to come through the conversion of hearts back to God and to the realization of the dignity of each and every human person. This ongoing conversion starts with each one of us and will only come about through serious prayer for the conversion of hearts.
The next thing that we need to do is make our voices known loud and clear in the public square. As Catholics, we need to let our elected representatives know that we strongly oppose this HHS mandate and demand its repeal. CLICK HERE to find out how to contact your local representatives in Congress. We must also stay informed and up to date on these issues and other developments so that we can respond to them quickly and appropriately.
Thirdly, we must be willing, as Roman Catholics, to not be afraid to be witnesses to the truth about Christ and the dignity of the human person, and to bring our Catholic faith and convictions to the public square. These issues that face our country are not just Catholic issues, but serious issues that gravely undermine and subvert the common good. The First Amendment of the Constitution did not intend to separate religion and politics — rather it protects and guarantees our freedom to bring our faith, values, and convictions to the public square in order to protect and defend the common good! Therefore, we cannot be afraid to make our voices known and to witness to the truth of the Gospel and the dignity of the human person. This is the calling we received at our Baptism and which was strengthened at our Confirmation. This is the calling we receive at the end of every Mass when we are instructed to “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” As Blessed Pope John Paul II, in one of his visits to this great country of ours, urges us:
Catholics of America! Always be guided by the truth - by the truth about God who created and redeemed us, and by the truth about the human person, made in the image and likeness of God and destined for a glorious fulfillment in the Kingdom to come. Always be convincing witnesses to the truth. “Stir into a flame the gift of God” that has been bestowed upon you in baptism. Light your nation - light the world - with the power of that flame! Amen
-- Homily in Orioles Park at Camden Yards, October 8, 1995
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