Contraceptives & Catholics
Just when I thought Obama was helping to pull a large group of people -that aren’t the Quakers- into the 21st century, he looks to be backing down. Mandated preventative health care that would *gasp* make contraception available to most people. People working in religious institutions would even be exempted. It is apparently asking too much to make birth control available if requested. An apocalypse in the making… Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! Then the polls arrived to make sense of it all.
- Roughly 6-in-10 Catholics (58%) believe that employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception.
- Among Catholic voters, support for this requirement is slightly lower at 52%.
- Only half (50%) of white Catholics support this requirement, compared to 47% who oppose it.
Of course any poll is only as good as it’s sample size among other things. Who knows where this will lead next? Heck, with the Catholic Bishops calling for Barak’s head on a platter and supporting republican candidates, this has galvanized other groups to rally around the President. In effect, this hullabaloo might actually help Obama’s reelection. Can we get homeopaths and chlamydia to put their support behind Romney?
Filed Under WTF?
Indiana is looking to make a name for itself with Senate Bill 89. Even with a few vocal voices of reason, this “creation science” bill passed the senate 28-22 after 20 minutes as amended:
The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.
Dennis Kruse, the bill’s sponsor, knows the bill will have issues constitutionally but he does not in essense care about the money this will cost the school districts and state to defend SB89, saying: “This is a different Supreme Court. This Supreme Court could rule differently.”
Pro tem house speaker, Eric Turner and Jeff Thompson are sponsoring the bill in the House of Representatives. I have yet to find any good reason to think the house will vote any differently. I wonder if Dover, Penn. could send word to Indiana and head this off at the pass. As always, please feel free to write these guys a letter to let them know how you feel on this issue.
Finally. A Start
Catholic leaders from around the world are being told to give credence to the words of a victim instead of listening to the clergy that is accused of wrongdoing. Of course this is coming from Ratzinger, the current Pope. The man who knew what was happening and helped cover the crimes up. So, it’s not a perfect solution. Really, not a solution at all. But, they know we are starting to watch them closely. It’s nice to see them at least pay lip service to the victims.
Harry Potter: Militant Atheist
Err, Daniel Radcliffe, that is. Check out this short interview. Who knew I would like the former HP so much?
Promised a Few Pics
I hope to see each and every one of you at the Northwest Free-thought Convention close to Seattle, Washington in a couple months!
~Wesley