by Bishop Joseph Galante
Bishop of the Camden Diocese
(cnbnews.net)We have been hearing a lot lately about what is described as the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) mandate.
It seems in the popular mind this is about contraception. But the real issue is whether or not the government can define what a religion is and, as in this particular case, narrow it merely to an institution which serves and hires only its own people.
Today that question about freedom of conscience is being argued over the right of the Church to maintain its view about the morality of contraception. Yet the broader issue of religious liberty is also being fought over other issues as well. For example, there is a question whether punitive immigration laws, such as those recently passed in Alabama and Arizona, will allow for the freedom of conscience to provide immigrants with rides to Church or permit Catholics to offer food or shelter to the undocumented.
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