Rant on HHS mandate

A compromise is in the works? I hope and pray not:

A key White House adviser on faith issues said Tuesday that several organizations with ties to the administration have approached President Obama’s aides about finding a resolution to fast-growing controversy over a new rule requiring many Catholic institutions to offer birth control and other contraception services as part of employees’ health care coverage.

“There are conversations right now to arrange a meeting to talk with folks about how this policy can be nuanced,” said Pastor Joel C. Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor who has grown personally close to Obama and advised his White House on religious issues. “This is so fixable, and we just want to get into the conversation.”

Does Pastor Hunter know whom he's dealing with?

Hunter’s comments followed a statement by David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama’s reelection campaign, who indicated on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday that the White House might be open to a compromise on the matter.

“We certainly don’t want to abridge anyone’s religious freedoms, so we’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventive care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions,” he said.

"Preventive care" -- that used to mean something else.

Despite the assurances, officials with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops say they have not been approached by the White House with any proposed changes. The group has been among the most vocal critics of the rule, calling it an unprecedented abridgement of religious liberty.

The bishops have thus far exceeded expectations with their strong statements from the pulpit. I don't know how many of the letters contained these words: "We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law." But many of them did.

That doesn't mean we aren't worried about them caving in and agreeing to some kind of weak "broadening" of the exemption.

And by the way, I don't care whether so-called "Catholic" women are all gung-ho for "free" birth control pills and tubals. No doubt that's a fun fact for the liberal media to cite, but the low tide of faith among Catholics not only isn't news -- it's beside the point. The mandate is wrong, period. No one, whether religious or not, should be forced to go against his conscience on this.

Rush Limbaugh did a great segment on this outrage today:

On Sunday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius authored an op-ed in USA Today defending the [regime]’s actions, claiming that a very narrow exemption to the mandate is evidence that the White House is 'working to strike the right balance between respecting religious beliefs and increasing women's access to critical preventive health services.'" Well, you see right there that the regime, Sebelius-Obama, think that the Church and religious institutions are resulting in women being denied access to "critical preventive health services."

Which is an out-and-out lie. Being a Catholic is a choice. You don't have to be one. And if you are one, you can punt. The Catholic Church doesn't have anywhere near the power Obama does. The Catholic Church doesn't have near the power Obama wants! The Catholic Church can't deny anybody anything. It's something that the flock have to support and agree with. It's part of the rules. This is why I've always marveled at the left's attempt to challenge religious orthodoxy. "The Church must conform! The Church must modernize. The Church must realize it's the 21st Century!" No! The Church is what it is. If people don't want to follow along, that's their business.

It's not the government's business to make any church or any religion "modernize," quote, unquote, or get with the program or what have you. There is no permissible way the government can do this, according to our Constitution. But the Constitution doesn't matter here, which is really what this is all about. The Constitution doesn't matter to the regime. The regime is simply saying, "To hell with the Constitution. We're gonna implement this regardless what the Constitution says!" But if you don't like the Catholic Church view on abortion, if you don't like their view on contraception, don't be Catholic. If you don't like what the Methodist Church says or if you don't like what you hear in synagogue, don't go. It's as simple as that.

But Obama wants you to believe that the Church has all these prisoners. Everybody who shows up for Mass is a prisoner. They're all wishing the Church would modernize and change. But the Church, being obstinate, won't. What they don't tell is people can get up and leave Mass. They can walk out of there if they don't like it. They don't have to sign up for the articles of faith. It's theology. This is no place for the government to be. They are taking what are moral and religious beliefs and turning them into totally nothing but political elements multiply. And when it becomes political, then the regime says they can force people to agree with or not agree with or what have you. This is an abomination. The Catholics Church is just the latest springboard. The target here is the Constitution of the United States, pure and simple.

Another lie: that people don't have easy access to contraceptives! Who believes that?

Sigh.

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Update: This is why there should be no compromise on the HHS mandate. 

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Many thanks to Michelle Malkin for the Buzzworthy link. Thanks also to The Camp of the Saints, to Larwyn, and to Pew Sitter for the big links. Go read them all.

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