Faith & Family Live! : Is Faith Permitted To Have Consequences?

Posted by Michelle Reitemeyer on Friday, Oct 14, 2011 4:45 PM (EDT):

I was just reading about this case last night, and all I could think about was the “official” Catholic Church in China. Religious liberty is under serious attack in this country, from all directions. I tremble to think where we’re heading. BTW, Rebecca, in the sphere of mom-blogginess, thank you for throwing out some meaty topics. Not that I mind talking about raising kids or difficulties with in-laws…still, though I’m happy to see something different, too.

Posted by Rebecca Teti on Friday, Oct 14, 2011 9:08 PM (EDT):

Thanks for the boost, Michelle! I just write about things that interest me.

Posted by Sahmoffive on Friday, Oct 14, 2011 11:49 PM (EDT):

I wish I would have kept a diary since I’ve been a grown up. I don’t remember feeling so afraid our religious liberties (and all freedom really) were at all threatened under a republican white house, but maybe it’s because I was to busy to notice or contemplate the changes new laws would be. Or even that I’ve slept since then and have forgotten what issues were going on back then. I’m busy now too, but I seem to see a new threat to freedom on a weekly basis. :(
Have you ever heard that joke about how to catch wild pigs? That’s what I feel like. Since the founding fathers left so much up to interpretation, we’ve developed a government to run exactly counter to their dreams (on both sides of the aisle).

Posted by Rebecca Teti on Saturday, Oct 15, 2011 10:06 AM (EDT):

I’m not intending to fear-monger by posting such things. I don’t think we need be frightened so much as engaged. Most serious political questions recur at various points in our history. There’s a struggle, it gets settled for a time, and then some new circumstance re-raises the question. I’ve just been reading a biography of John Adams, and it’s amazing how many of the same political questions are in play today as in the 2nd presidency!

This question of whether free exercise extends past literal worship has been in play at least since JFK’s famous speech to Southern Baptists assuring them his faith was “private” and would play no part in his presidency. It travels forward to Gov. Cuomo’s “personally opposed” speech at Notre Dame, so it isn’t that surprising that a generation educated in that vein should come to power and take those views to their logical conclusion, confining “freedom of religion” to “freedom of worship.”

That said, you’re right that this is everywhere now, because this (in my view false) understanding of religious liberty is being pursued in every sphere: in the protection of human rights internationally (this is a big bone of contention between the US & the Vatican at present, as the Vatican pushes for religious liberty in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the US is currently defending only freedom of worship, which is quite different—the world’s most oppressive regimes can mostly claim to allow freedom of worship); in health care, where pro-lifers are being systematically driven from the field by conscience concerns; in the law, as described here; and in almost every respect, as the battle over the definition of marriage heats up, as the USCCB has recently written to the President (I have yet to post on that, but will.)

Posted by Sahmoffive on Saturday, Oct 15, 2011 12:17 PM (EDT):

You’re not fear mongering, if this was the first I had heard of it I don’t know if I’d be worried at all, but since I joined lifesitenews, free range kids, the parental rights group, and a few others on facebook, it seems like stuff is happening ALL THE TIME.

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