USA -Catholics did not understand very well the absolutist claims that a society based upon a Lockean understanding of religion made with regard to behavior

The Revenge of Religious Liberty

by Thomas Storck

The harmony' between the goals and practices of American culture and those of the Catholic Church was superficial. Now the worth of secular principles is becoming visible, and we must face them for what they are.

Now that several states in the United States have declared that a man may legally marry another man and a woman another woman, anyone whose occupation is concerned in some way with weddings and who is in principle opposed to such unions has reason to fear. As many know, already a florist in Washington State is in legal trouble for refusing to provide floral services to a same-sex ceremony, and florists, caterers, musicians and others—perhaps eventually even clergymen—have reason to fear the same eventuality, since the probability is that more and more jurisdictions will enact similar laws and become more and more intolerant in enforcing them.

Along the same lines of interference with freedom of conscience, not only institutions sponsored by the Church, but individual Catholic employers are facing the HHS mandate, regulations based on President Obama’s health care legislation which mandate insurance coverage for contraception. And just since I began writing this article, in Columbus, Ohio, a Catholic high school, and possibly the Diocese of Columbus, is in legal trouble for firing a long-time physical education teacher whose status as a partnered lesbian recently came to light.

What is the Church, what are individual Catholics, to do in the face of all this? The answer is obvious, or so it seems. Simply protect our freedom of religion. Enact at the federal level strong protections for freedom of conscience and then, even if we deplore the oxymoron of same-sex marriage or the use of contraceptives, at least Catholics and other objectors will not be required to cooperate with or facilitate such practices.

But, unfortunately, I fear that this is not the simple solution that many imagine.

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