I grew up listening to and reading about Thomas Aquinas ..The Catholic Church's patron saint of condescending attitudes. This latest attempt by the Catholic Church to attack women's health based on some archaic conceptual object to contraceptives is thinly veiled as a political attack on a President that first they first construed as a black liberationist, then failed to defend as a 'secret muslim' and now call a secularist (which is code for atheist).
Reading about Rick Santorum this morning here. I came to the conclusion that Religious freedom for the Catholic Church is not simply enough for these folks. They believe in theocracy. Santorum said himself that Religion is being attacked.
Reading about Rick Santorum this morning here. I came to the conclusion that Religious freedom for the Catholic Church is not simply enough for these folks. They believe in theocracy. Santorum said himself that Religion is being attacked.
The intellectual enlightenment arguments made by Catholics has resurfaced in the concept of "natural law." "Laws of Nature" appears in the first few words of the Declaration of Independence. But it is certainly a much more vague term than catholics would like you to believe. They use the term as an argument to institute their extremely conservative values without interjecting God into the conversation.
Take Santorum's stand on Contraceptives:
Nature should take its course. And for that reason:
- States should have the power again to ban contraception;
- The federal government should stop funding family planning clinics that provide low-income women with access to contraceptives and other preventive health care services;
- Religious-affiliated hospitals should be able to strip out all birth control coverage out of any health insurance policy that they offer their employees... regardless of the personal convictions or needs of the employees.
- And girls and women who are raped or victims of incest should not have access to the morning-after pill or an abortion.
There is my case in point. Conservatives who once feared of a President Kennedy beholden to the Pope have now embraced a candidate that has such extreme views Santorum believes secular forces in America have attacked his religious freedom to inject religion into politics. (A bit of a backwards argument, don't you think?). This whole situation seems backwards. Christian Conservatives have dropped any notion of a Tea Party candidate because instead of personal freedom, they prefer a theocracy.
The Catholic Church is behind the new surge of Rick Santorum. His language reflects that of their Canon Law. They have with this new attack on the new health care requirement to include contraceptives in heath coverage plans been able to position their religious and moral views as a victim. Therefore, they can count on the support of their congregation to push back on the requirement, even though polls show the majority of their congregations use contraceptives or at least the support the use of them.
The victim card is effective. Rick Santorum is surging. The Church has managed to undercut women's health based on a Thomas Aquinas concept of "natural law." At what point can American politics mature enough to leave these tired old arguments in the dust? The idea that Santorrum can represent a political party in the 21st century is a scary concept.
