In the political standoff between the U.S. government and the nation's Catholic bishops, "religious liberty" has become the new buzzword of late. In fact, some would say the recent string of decisions in Washington that have come at the expense of the church amount to nothing short of an anti-Catholic bias.
Last week, Bishop William Lori, who heads the bishops' ad hoc committee for religious liberty, testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee. Lori ran through a laundry list of recent decisions that he says pose "grave threats to religious liberty," including the mandate that health insurance plans cover contraception, requirements for state contracted international development agencies like Catholic Relief Services to provide condoms as a method of HIV prevention, and the current administration's decision to no longer support the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents the recognition of same-sex marriage. Lori expressed concern that the Catholic Church will be labeled as bigots for their stance on marriage, although this already seems to be happening regardless of whether government laws on the issue change.
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