[net-gold] MEDICAL: PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH: BIRTH CONTROL AND CONTRACEPTION : RELIGION: CHRISTIAN: CATHOLIC : POLITICS: LOBBYING : RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT: Of Contraceptives and Same-Sex Marriage



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MEDICAL: PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH: BIRTH CONTROL AND CONTRACEPTION :

RELIGION: CHRISTIAN: CATHOLIC :

POLITICS: LOBBYING :

RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT:

Of Contraceptives and Same-Sex Marriage

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Of Contraceptives and Same-Sex Marriage

Posted: 02/12/2012 11:20 am

Geoffrey R. Stone.

Edward H. Levi

Distinguished Service Professor of Law

University of Chicago

Huffington Post

Politics
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/ obama-contraceptives-prop-8_b_1271509.html?ref=politics 

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A shorter URL for the above link:

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http://tinyurl.com/893a7tq

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This was an interesting week for religion in America. First, the Council of Catholic Bishops demanded that the president of the United States exempt Catholic hospitals and universities from a general requirement that all employers receiving federal funds must provide health insurance for their employees that includes coverage for contraceptives. On reflection, the president acceded to their demand, explaining that such institutions should not be required to do something that is fundamentally incompatible with their religious beliefs. 

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While all this was going on, a federal court of appeals ruled that California's Proposition 8, which attempted to strip gays and lesbians of the previously recognized state law right to marry, violated the federal Constitution. The court explained that Proposition 8, which had been aggressively promoted by the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and evangelicals, was unconstitutional because it served "no purpose... other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California." 

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The juxtaposition of these two events sheds important light on the relationship between religion and government in the United States today. 

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Our nation's founders sought to shape the basic nature of that relationship in the First Amendment, which contains two distinct but intertwined clauses concerning religion. The Free Exercise Clause forbids government to make any law prohibiting "the free exercise of religion." The Establishment Clause forbids government to make any law "respecting an establishment of religion." 

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In non-legal terms, the goal of men like James Madison, George Washington and John Adams was to keep government out of religion and religion out of government. It was, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, to erect a "wall of separation" between church and state. 

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The founders were well aware that religion had proved bitterly divisive throughout human history. Whenever government and religion had become enmeshed, the consequence had almost invariably been intolerance and persecution. To protect both religion and government, and to establish a unified, cohesive nation committed to promoting "the general welfare" rather than religious supremacy, the founders aspired to keep the worlds of government and religion apart. 

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snip

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The most common type of Free Exercise issue today involves not express government discrimination against the adherents of a particular religion, but questions similar to the one posed by the Catholic bishops: When should government exempt the members of a particular religious faith from a law of general application? For example, if certain Native American religions use peyote as an essential part of their religious practice, should they be exempt from laws generally prohibiting the possession of peyote? Or, if contraception is fundamentally at odds with Catholic doctrine, should Catholic hospitals and universities be exempt from laws requiring all employers to provide health insurance for their employees, including coverage for contraception? These can be vexing issues because they raise the specter of special privileges for religion. 

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The complete article may be read at the URL above.

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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
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