DEFENDING OUR FIRST FREEDOM

We are slowly losing our sense of religious liberty in America.

Our government and courts no longer seem to value the public role of religion or recognize religious freedom as a basic human right.

Scholars like Harvard’s Mary Ann Glendon and Michael Sandel have observed that the right to hold and express religious beliefs is nowadays treated as only one of many private lifestyle options that a person can choose from.

These trends are the reason the U.S. Catholic bishops recently established a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

My brother bishops and I are deeply concerned that our individual liberty and the Church’s freedom to carry out her mission are threatened today as they never have been before in our country’s history.

We have always believed as Catholics that we serve our country the best as citizens when we are trying to be totally faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church.

And we have always worked, as individuals and as a Church, to help government — at all levels — to provide vital social services, education and health care.

But lately, this is becoming harder for us to do.
Just last week, the federal government declined a grant request from the U.S. bishop’s Migration and Refugee Services agency.

We are not really sure why. No reason was given. Our agency has been working well with the government since 2006 to help thousands of women and children who are victims of human trafficking.

Recently, the government had been demanding that our agency provide abortions, contraception and sterilizations for the women we serve.

We hope the decision to deny our application was not because we refused to provide these services that are unnecessary and violate our religious principles.

In another case, the federal government is trying to force private employers to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraception, including for medications that cause abortions.

This, of course, would violate the consciences of Catholic business owners and also undermine the religious independence of Church employers.

These are only a few examples of the many attempts being made to coerce Catholics to submit to social policies and practices that we consider to be contrary to our religious identity.

Church adoption and foster-care ministries have had to shut ...