Catholic Church throws full weight against nondiscrimination law; also, torture is legal now

[solarbird]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out swinging against ENDA and any other form of anti-discrimination law protecting GBLT people.

Andrew Sullivan, as usual, is on the case:

Legally protecting gays from employment discrimination is now, apparently, illegitimate for Catholics. Why? Because non-procreative sexual acts violate church doctrine, and protecting employees who might engage in such acts in private therefore violates church doctrine. How does anyone know that the gay person in the office or factory is engaged in non-procreative acts? You don't. You assume it. But the assumption is enough. And so firing gay people cannot be made illegal - or it would be a restriction on "religious liberty...."

The Bishops also argue against non-discrimination laws for gays because the laws imply that gay people are equal citizens and if they are equal citizens, the right to civil marriage will not be far behind.

And so we have a prudential political argument in defense of an obvious evil - persecuting people for something that they cannot change. ... And so they have a choice: favoring a civil society to protect individuals from unjust discrimination or not. When it comes to gays - and only gays - the Bishops have taken a stand. It is a de facto endorsement of obvious injustice. It is a profound betrayal of the core message of Jesus: that the already despised should be embraced not stigmatized, that the victims of discrimination be protected not marginalized.

The fundamentalist right, is, of course, thrilled, as this report from LifeSiteNews.com shows.

And, oh yeah, Mr. Bush tortured people, and would happily do it again, and nobody's going to do a damned thing about it. So regardless of what the law (another "god damned piece of paper") says, torture is legal now in the US. Enjoy that.

Comments

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

Oh, because arsonists are equal citizens who should be allowed to get married, rent apartments, and be considered for jobs, but gay people aren't. Doesn't arson violate Catholic doctrine? How about theft? I don't see the Catholic Church lobbying to discriminate against embezzlers and con artists and prevent them from marrying, renting apartments, or holding honest jobs.

Furthermore, religious liberty just means we can't pass laws that would ban wearing crosses or attending Mass; it is not a license to break laws. Proponents of a religion that required human sacrifice would not be able to carry out that religous practice: murder is illegal no matter what, and religion is no excuse. Same goes for discrimination in employment, benefits, and housing.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Actually, in some cases religious liberty IS a license to break laws. Santeria or the Peyote religions, for example, or even perhaps conscientious objector status.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

Conscientious objector status I'll grant you.

The Santeria precedent is commonly misunderstood. You can't pass laws obviously designed for the purpose of blocking a specific religion; The town that had its anti-animal-sacrifice law overturned lost because they hadn't bothered to pass any such law until Santeria practitioners moved to town. If they'd had a pre-existing ban on animal slaughter within the town limits, that would have held.