My Turn: Mandate violates beliefs

By John Brincefield

I have never been moved to write a letter to the editor or to publicly state my opinion on political matters. Like most Americans, I generally feel that it doesn’t much matter what I think. Politicians are going to do or say whatever it takes to get elected, or re-elected, regardless what we, the people, think. However, after a stirring homily by our pastor at Sacred Heart, Father John Putnam, at Mass on Sunday, and after reading Kathleen Parker’s column in the Sunday Post, I couldn’t contain myself.

The Affordable Care Act, which the Obama Administration is forcing down our throats, will require all employers, including Catholic employers (hospitals, schools, universities, charitable organizations, etc.) to pay for insurance providing contraception, including drugs that induce abortion after conception (abortifacient drugs). This flies in the face of those of us who believe in the sanctity of life. It particularly violates the fundamental moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

There are cries of protest from all over the country from those in opposition to this mandate. The Obama Administration, as is typical in an election year, has “kicked the can down the road” and given Catholic and other institutions a year to comply, postponing the political consequences in an effort not to lose votes. More than 20 percent of the electorate is Catholic, and many millions more are served by Catholic hospitals, charities and schools. If we all stand up in opposition at the ballot box in November, we can get their attention. Votes seem to be the only things politicians understand (other than the dollars it takes to get them). Unfortunately, more than 50 percent of Catholic voters supported Obama in 2008. Too many people are “CINO” Catholics (Catholic In Name Only), like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution begins: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...” The Affordable Care Act, if allowed to go into law, will amount to persecution and discrimination by the government against the church and its institutions. So much for freedom of religion!

What has been the response by the administration to the outcry of opposition? As Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburg said in a recent column titled “To hell with you”: The administration has said “to hell with your religious beliefs. To hell with your religious liberty. To hell with your freedom of conscience. We’ll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under.”

Obama’s re-election mantra seems to be “fairness” to all. Is it fair to ask us to go against our religious and moral beliefs and participate in the destruction of the lives of more innocent babies?

Is this what we have to look forward to if Obama is elected for four more years? Which of our freedoms will be next?

John Brincefield lives in Salisbury and is a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

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