A Look at Morality

By Brian Holmes
Uwm Post
March 5, 2012

http://www.uwmpost.com/2012/03/05/a-look-at-morality/

President Obama's recent mandate proposal that employer funded insurance companies give women free access to contraceptives has outraged many religious organizations, primarily Catholics. However, these days it's hard to see how the Catholic Church has the clout to condemn anything.

It would seem a woman's right to choose disgusts the archdiocese more than a grown man having sexual intercourse with children. If as much effort was put into ridding their institution of individuals involved in this cover-up as condemning a woman's right to choose, their moral outrage wouldn't be so absurd.

It is common knowledge that the Vatican has vast riches from rare historical documents to statues and sculptures worth billions. Catholic churches spend countless dollars beautifying their buildings. Paying compensation to the lives destroyed by their negligence should be the number one priority. However, the answer for many Catholic institutions has been to file for bankruptcy.

Money will never repair the lives ruined by the church's negligence, but compensation is owed to the victims and their families. It has been proven that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church chose to ignore sexual abuse, relocating the perpetrators instead of going to the proper authorities.

Aside from scandals, a little brought up fact is that religious institutions including the Catholic Church enjoy tax exempt status. For an establishment that doesn't pay taxes, they seem to have a lot to say on government policies. Perhaps they should pay abuse victims off with all the money saved by not paying taxes. Over the years one could fathom that to be quite an accumulation of green.

While Catholic advocates bellyache about "liberals" discriminating against religion by recognizing female employees' right to choose, some are tired of picking up the slack for wealthy institutions that don't pay taxes. Yet, these same institutions want the power to influence government legislation.

Because of the outrage felt by Roman Catholic groups, Obama compromised a bill stating that Catholic institutions would not have to pay for or refer their employees to birth control options but would have to offer an insurance plan that would address these choices. This has done little to squelch the religious right's unquenchable anger. And the Catholic Church is still outraged.

In contrast, Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri has offered a plan suggesting that religious employers should not have to pay for anything that goes against their moral beliefs. One can only imagine how far this could go. Perhaps it may be against an employer's moral convictions to support healthcare for a woman's pregnancy out of wedlock?

What if an employer adheres to religious extremist, David Barton's (whom many right wing politicians respect) claims that Jesus was against the minimum wage. If they aren't allowed to pay employees under the federal minimum wage, is their religious freedom being discriminated against?

The Catholic Church has not been the only religious institution to be enraged by this mandate but they are by far the most powerful and morally questionable. It is hard to believe these arguments are still valid in 2012 and even harder to believe an institution can be so supercilious after ruining the lives of countless children and adults. One's faith is their own business unless they use it to discriminate against others. Where is the outrage about sexual prescriptions for men such as Viagra?

The president needs to stand firm on this, or risk losing his support base. He has the support of many liberal religious leaders, moderates and independents. He is not going to receive any support from the religious right or Tea Party Republicans even if he single handedly cured cancer; so what's the point in trying? In essence, before involving themselves in political advocacy, the Catholic Church needs to clean up the mess in its own backyard.