A false doctrine, separation of Church and State, used to silence conservatives is violated by the Liberals to salvage the dying socialist national health care proposals. by Mark Vogl
(conservative)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
For the second time during the Health Care Debate, a message from the pulpit encouraging Catholics to call their federal representatives on health care was given in a Mass I attended.
The first time this happened, it happened at a critical moment days before the House vote on health care. The message from the Church, call your representative to voice your opposition to federal abortion spending in the health care bill. Sounds like a vote against health care you say? No...not at all. We were not told to call and say we opposed national health care...we were told to call and say we were against abortion funding in the health care bill..which translates too..I support national health care.
The timing for this declaration could not have been more politically attuned, just days, before the vote. The result...well, the message was from the Council of Catholic Bishops, and may have been given to tens of millions of Catholics attending Mass on Sunday. I say could have been because I dont know. Do you?
I can tell you one thing. In my 54 years as a Catholic I have only heard reference to two other political issues from the pulpit in my whole life, abortion and the War in Vietnam. That's not to say the Catholic Church is not active in American politics...I would presume everything from illegal immigration to all of the social safety net issues receive attention from the Chruch. But this is one of the very few times when they came out directly, undeniably, and stated a position and than told the congregation to act!
Today, once again we were called on by the Council of Bishops to call our representatives and tel them we opposed the funding of abortions with tax dollars. Does this signal the Democrats are going to try to move on national health care? Or is it an attempt to keep the process alive. The Democrats have suffered three major state wide electoral defeats since the health care debate started. Polls indicate the American public, by a margin of two to one, oppose naitonal health care.
Now my problem is, I dont believe in the Separation of Church and State doctrine. Quite to the contrary, I believe the people who came to America first, and our Founding Fathers, through the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights wanted to include the Christian faith in governance. Even Benjamin Franklin called for prayer at the beginning of each day in Congress.
But the problem is the federal government has rattled its sabers at churches which favored conservative positions, threatening their tax exempt status as churches...but will there be an investigation of the Catholic Church for this violation? No way.
The American people have spoken on national health care, as they have spoken on immigration reform. The politicians, both Republicans and Democrats won't listen. Meanwhile our economy is in the tank because investors have no clue what the Federal government is doing with respect to taxes, and now, nationalization of business. Our nation is in a fix, and its in this fix because the American public lost its vigilance and followed the example of Bill Clinton and decided to party, instead of guarding and promoting the national prosperity.
The American system is losing its credibility. In the past, Americans believed the rules applied evenly to all. But we see over and over again that that is not true. The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a not for profit organization has been told they cannot run lotteries, or raffles to raise funds. Have the veterans ended Bingo or their raffles? How bout the churches? Nope. This unfair application of the rules is demonstrating clearly, for anyone looking, that the rules are being applied selectively...
And so the end of a nation begins. When you can't trust the government to be a fair, unbiased arbiter, darkness fills the land.
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I have to take issue with another of your points, as I have in two other articles. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems as if the position you are taking in this article is to lump the Catholic Church (or simply Catholic Bishops?) in the same category as the group you are calling "liberals." I have come to that conclusion because of your opening statement at the beginning of the article.
As a Catholic, I find this idea not only offensive, since there are many, many Catholic laypeople and clergy who do not in any way consider themselves liberals, in the way that you are meaning the term, but incorrect. I am not trying to offend liberal Catholics either because I know that they also exist; however, if you focus on the main points that the Bishops were fighting for in this healthcare debaucle, you will see that any institution that takes as staunch a pro-life position, as does the Catholic Church, cannot possibly be placed in the same arena with the great number of liberals who are vehemently pro-choice. Even though pro-life liberals do exist, they are far outnumbered by the pro-choice people in their group. If someone has numbers to disprove this statement, please feel free to post them.
My belief is that the Catholic Bishops realized that the healthcare issue is not going to quietly go away; therefore, it was imperative to send a strong message to Congress that we (Catholics) do not in any way want to help fund abortions overseas, here, or anywhere. And a person's rights of conscience should also not be tread upon. This was a perfect example of how politics works every day. It is not realistic when you are dealing with the government or any political group to expect that an issue as large and demanding as healthcare reform (something the Democratic side of the house has been pushing for a long time) would simply disappear without any resolution; or without some sort of quid pro quo. The Bishops believed that some form or "reform" will take place. It will happen and when it does, it is deadly important to fight for the rights of the unborn. This is a case of "when" it happens, not "if."
Is the position that you are taking that the government allows the Catholic Church to discuss politics from the pulpit and not other churches? And that this means that the Catholic Church must be liberal?? Seems as if you, being a Catholic for 54 years, would have more sense about what is actually going on in your own church. And by the way, there have been other times that priests have suggested strongly to their parishoners to consider a particular political position (the last couple of presidential elections come to mind). Maybe you missed those Masses.
Also, I am not sure what you meant by the statement "but will there be an investigation of the Catholic Church for this violation? No way." You had just stated earlier in the article that you did not believe in separation of church and state. So how is what the Catholic Church did a violation? I'm confused.
Thanks in advance for any further commentary you can add. I am not trying to pick a fight; just pointing out that I think your accusation of the Church is unfounded and rather insidious. It seems as if you are saying that the Church is using something as heinous as abortion as a front for their own political agenda: healthcare reform. Especially in light of all the Church has done to prevent abortion and how strongly we have fought it. If that is true, it is rather shameful coming from a Catholic, don't you think?
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