The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops issued a proclamation on Thursday calling for every priest, parish and layperson to participate in a “great national campaign” to defend religious liberty, which they said is “under attack, both at home and abroad.”Wait!
In particular they urged every diocese to hold a “Fortnight for Freedom” during the two weeks leading up to the Fourth of July, for parishioners to study, pray and take public action to fight what they see as the government’s attempts to curtail religious freedom.
For more than half a year, the bishops have put the religious liberty issue front and center, but it has not yet galvanized the Catholic laity and has even further polarized the church’s liberal and conservative flanks. In an election year, liberal Catholics have accused the bishops of making the church an arm of the Republican Party in the drive to defeat President Obama, an accusation the bishops reject.Could it be that the laity are not galvanized because they do not see their religious liberty at risk? Could it be that a good many Roman Catholic women view the bishops' campaign as an assault on women's health care?
Quoting from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the bishops say that unjust laws should be either changed or resisted.Puhleeze! The citation of Martin Luther King's letter from jail and the comparison to to the Civil Rights struggle for equality for African-Americans is a bridge too far. Bishops, you make yourself look foolish. You speak well to immigration and other issues, but who will listen when you destroy your own credibility with comparisons to MLK, as you campaign to deny women health care in the name of religious freedom?
And if you don't mind strong language, read Charles Pierce's post titled 'The Clan of the Red Beanie Stalks MLK, Sanity.'
