Twenty-first Century Recusants

Twenty-first Century Recusants | Matthew Cullinan Hoffman | Catholic World Report

Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate evokes bitter memories of past persecution.

The Obama administration's recent decision to require Catholic institutions to provide contraceptives through their health care plans has been met with firm resistance from Catholic leaders, and incredulity even from the president’s own supporters, who warn that the administration is walking into a political minefield.  

"One of Barack Obama’s great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers," writes the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne. "That is why it is so remarkable that he utterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services should be treated under the new health care law."  The president "threw his progressive Catholic allies under the bus," he adds.

The president's allies in the press, who share his socially liberal love of all things contraceptive, have good reason to be concerned about the administration's Quixotic jab at the Catholic Church. The president has managed to offend the religious sensibilities of the largest voting bloc in the United States, and is evoking bitter memories of historic persecution in the process.

Intentionally or not, the administration's policy smacks of the methods established by England's Queen Elizabeth against Catholic "recusants," who refused to participate in the worship services of the Anglican Church during the late 16th century.

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Comments

[Dan]

"One of Barack Obama’s great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers," writes the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne.

E.J., what planet are you living on? Yes, I realize that the President once so sensitively articulated the way, out of frustration and bitterness, we "cling to guns and religion." But is the present "insensitivity" really any surprise coming as it does from a man who, as a Senator, had a 100% NARAL rating and whose administration already has developed a track record of running roughshod over Catholic concerns?