American Catholics have a reputation for political progressivism and cultural conservatism. Their church rates among the most principled opponents of abortion, for instance. Indeed, official Catholic positions on abortion, contraception and other questions earn the enduring enmity of the chattering classes.
Barack Obama won significant support from Catholics in 2008. A recent decision from the Department of Health and Human Services has attracted strong criticism from sources who had welcomed his election. The department says that certain religious institutions offering health insurance must include free contraception in their coverage, although the sponsoring denominations may oppose artificial birth control on theological grounds. The move is unconscionable; it assaults religious rights.
Polls suggest that Catholics in the pews do not necessarily agree with their church's position on issues such as abortion and contraception. Many of these Catholics also understand when the government has crossed the line. How will they respond? The breach is absolute and the offense is profound, yet we suspect the electoral consequences might not be as vast as anticipated. The church and its allies in other faiths must resist the incursion, regardless of what public opinion says.
The Obama administration is not anti-Catholic. Yet despite the president's often insightful religious reflections, it remains defiantly secularist. It does not fully appreciate a wall of separation that inhibits the state as well as the church. Walker Percy captured the temper well in his novel "The Thanatos Syndrome." The players in this political drama probably have no idea of what they promote and of what they betray.
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