Life issues continued

So, another entry from the same source proclaims that contraception is required to allow women the freedom to explore their lives outside the home.  Here are three of the long list of reasons that contraception is required for women today:

• The entire singles scene in the bars of the Upper East Side of Manhattan would not have been possible without access to dependable contraception.  
• The sexual revolution which enabled men and women to explore the beauties of sexual expression for its own sake, or as an expression of love or passion, would be far less a part of our existence without contraception.
• The enrichment of our society by the contributions of women - in science, law, medicine, education, athletics, business, even religion - would be far less absent contraception and how women were thereby empowered.

The entire article can be read at:

 

Daily KOS

I believe that these assumptions are based upon the wrong premise, one that excludes  יהוה  (God)from the equation of our lives.  But, again, I would like to pass on the article from the USCCB that addresses these issues from a point of view that proclaims the validity of following the tenets established by  יהוה  so many thousands of years ago.

 

LIFE ISSUES FORUM                                                       July 3, 2014

For Immediate Release

 Much Ado About Hobby Lobby

By Richard M. Doerflinger

 

The ink was not dry on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision before the attacks began.  “The immediate effect… is to deny many thousands of women contraceptive coverage vital to their well-being and reproductive freedom,” intoned The New York Times.  We must “keep bosses out of the examination room,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Employees’ beliefs have been “effectively overruled by the religious beliefs of the boss,” said talk show host Rachel Maddow.  

            In fact, what the court did was faithfully apply a law passed almost unanimously by the people’s elected representatives.

            That law is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.  It says a federal policy cannot “substantially burden” a person’s religious freedom, unless it serves a “compelling state interest” in a way that is “least restrictive” of that freedom. 

            The court applied that law to a situation in which unelected officials of the Obama administration tried to force family businesses to provide insurance coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptives – even if their religion rejects the drugs and devices that can attack early human life. Three businesses filed suit under RFRA. 

They prevailed because, even assuming that the government has a “compelling” interest in maximizing birth control coverage, it failed to show it was furthering that interest by a means that is least restrictive of religious freedom.  Among other things, the government could provide that coverage itself, as it already does to millions of Americans. 

            The court also had to decide: Can a for-profit family-owned business have religious freedom rights?  It noted the following: Courts treat corporations as “persons” in various ways; they treat nonprofit corporations as having religious freedom; they have said that people don’t lose their religious freedom just because they run a business; and the Supreme Court itself has said that for-profit companies can have First Amendment free speech rights.  So the logical answer to the question is yes. 

            So far, so good.  But what about the charges we began with?  They run afoul of some basic facts.

             First, this is not about employers intruding into employees’ private health decisions on contraception.  The employers are doing just the opposite: Staying out of those decisions and leaving them to the individual. Far from trying to stop others from purchasing or using contraceptives, they are leaving them alone.  Isn’t that what “private” means?

            Second, this is no war between employers and employees.  The companies have been providing excellent health coverage to their thousands of employees for many years, excluding only the few items they see as harmful to human life. And their employees have chosen to work for them, due in part to these good wages and benefits.  The only party trying to force other people to violate their beliefs is the government itself.  That government also forces employees to buy coverage, for themselves and their minor daughters, that they may find morally objectionable.  Why assume that Christian-owned companies have no employees who share their values?

            Third, this is not about whether people who want contraceptive coverage can have it.  As the court noted, the government can provide that coverage without making these families violate their beliefs, so that the number of women deprived of coverage they want would be “zero.”

            So the indignation of politicians and pressure groups is misplaced.  It is they who seem to assume that they know how other people should live, and can use the coercive power of government to boss people around in accord with that superior knowledge.  The world their agenda may create – a flat, homogenized world lacking spirit and diversity, where no one believes in anything more strongly than in “progress,” where life and sexuality lack deeper meaning – is a world I don’t want to see.  I’m glad a twenty-year-old law, and a court that knows how to read that law, have provided at least a speed bump on the way there.

Ongoing commentary about SCOTUS decision about Hobby Lobby

Well, I've read a lot of stuff recently from some of the very liberal websites I visit to keep informed about social issues that relate to care of the poor and so on.  The last few days, there have been a plentitude of negative comments about the Church, private beliefs, and so on.  Many of these commentaries say that it's not right to have a faith based belief system shoved down "out throats".  What these folks forget is that they are trying to force feed, as it were, their belief system onto those of us who still follow the Church's Magisterium regarding these issues.  Well, I have found a few items from the USCCB that I would like to share, just in case folks are linked to their information.  The first one is from a WOMAN who has some very interesting things to say about women's health issues.  Here it is.  (Others will follow in future days.)

LIFE ISSUES FORUM                                                                   For Immediate Release

Speaking for Myself                                                                                     June 20, 2014

 

By Erin Stoyell-Mulholland

The Obama Administration has branded the HHS contraceptive mandate as a huge advancement for women’s equality. In a 2012 presidential debate, when President Obama was asked how he was going to promote women’s equality in the workplace, he responded by talking about the mandate and his efforts to ensure that all women have access to contraception. According to such statements, contraception leads to women’s equality. The subtext is that if a woman wants to be successful or equal in the workforce, she must suppress her fertility, which is viewed as a hindrance to her goals and her fulfillment. Women are sent the message –  that there is something wrong with their bodies that needs correcting if they are to be equal. To be equal to men, they must become like men.

This view is demeaning to women. We are being told that if we want to achieve equality, we should be contracepting. We are told that if we do become pregnant, whether planned or unplanned, somehow we are unsuccessful, in effect we have failed.  If we choose to pursue motherhood, we are clearly not pursuing success – at least not as the government defines it.

If the government truly saw the choices for and against motherhood as equal, there would be more support for women who become pregnant. Contraception and abortion-inducing drugs and devices are offered for free through the HHS mandate, but not all pregnancy-related costs are covered. By only offering full coverage of options promoting the prevention or interruption of pregnancy, the government is sending a subtle but clear message about what it means to be a woman and what a woman's success looks like – and it doesn’t include her fertility.

            The Catholic Church’s teaching reflects a much more beautiful and pro-woman view, upholding the dignity of women. The Church endorses Natural Family Planning or NFP, which allows couples to plan to avoid or achieve pregnancy.  Natural Family Planning also helps identify women's health issues, helping them to find real healing and health management. NFP teaches women to understand their own bodies and to identify times of fertility. It does not require women to ingest potentially harmful hormones, risking their health, in order to attain so-called women’s equality. The Catholic Church supports and upholds an authentic understanding and appreciation of women’s whole being. The HHS mandate, by contrast, reduces and limits the healthy functioning of women’s bodies, redefining fertility as a kind of disease.

To claim that contraception is key to women’s success is demeaning to all women. We need to promote real resources to support women who are pregnant or parenting. Our efforts need to be focused on providing mandatory paid maternity leave, better prenatal care, better financial aid and medical care for women and children, and better, more affordable childcare. Those avenues support all women’s success in the workplace.

The government claims to speak for all women and women’s needs, but on this issue it does not speak for me. I am a woman, and I support the more than 300 plaintiffs that have filed suit against the HHS mandate. Rather than telling me that my success is contingent upon rejecting a part of my femininity, I wish the government would respect me for who I am and how my body naturally functions. All women deserve that respect.

 

St.Joseph, The Worker - MAY 1

I read this on a prayer site that is sent to me each day (Bubbhaz Daily Prayer).  I thought that it is worth sharing.

        The Christian view of work is the opposite of the materialist view. A worker such as St Joseph is not a mere lump of labour – “1.00 human work units.” He is a person. He is created in God’s own image, and just as creation is an activity of God, so creation is an activity of the worker. The work we do echoes the glorious work that God has done. It may not be wasted; or abused; or improperly paid; or directed to wrong or pointless ends. To do any of these things is not oppression, it is sacrilege. The glory of the present economic system is when it gives so many, of whatever class, the chance to build and create something worthwhile, whether from their own resources, or in collaboration with others, or by attracting investment from others. But its shame is when that does not happen: when people are coerced, by greed or by poverty, into being “lumps of labour.” Whether the labour is arduous or not makes no difference; whether it is richly paid or not makes no difference.

      Because she must combat the anti-humanist Communist heresy the Church is sometimes thought to be on the side of capital. Reading the successive Papal encyclicals on labour and society, from Rerum Novarum (1891) onwards, will soon dispel that illusion. The enemies of the Church have no reason to read them; all too often we feel too comfortable in our present economic state and refrain from reading them also.

Holy Week - 2014

For Christians, this week concludes a time of prayer, penance, and almsgiving (the period called Lent).  This week, called Holy Week, is of special significance to all Christians because it is the time that we celebrate and commemorate the saving action that our Lord took for our lives.  In today's age that may seem an unlikely event or happening,  but it is very important to the world.  After the historical event of Jesus' death and resurrection , the lives of a few people were so radically changed that they continued a movement so  strong that it lasts to this day, some 2000 years later.   Peoples' lives have been radically changed by this movement, because it is  based upon an unshakable truth and reality - the Truth and Reality of God.  Today,  many people belittle this concept as  being the imagination of weak men's frightened minds. But, something  very significant happened 2000 years ago, and the world has not been the same since.  Yes, the naysayers will point out all of the division, animosity, and, violence committed in the "name of God", but I suggest those activities are NOT the result of a proper understanding of the message of Jesus.  He talked about love and grace and forgiveness, not hate.  He showed us how to interact with all sorts of people to produce a better world; and there have been many witnesses to these qualities throughout the centuries, e.g., Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa, John Paul II, Martin Luther King, to name a few.   Mankind has had a really hard time understanding this important concept.  However, our current Pope Francis, once again, reminds us of the importance of that message each time he speaks or acts.   So, as we approach the time called Easter, put aside the concerns with chocolate eggs and bunnies and look toward the message of the Church - that salvation is real and for each of us.  If you are Catholic, go to the Holy Week services, the Triduum, and renew your commitment to this caring, grace-filled faith.  If you have ever identified with the  Catholic Church, take a long look at why you are no longer active, listen to the message of grace and forgiveness proffered by Pope Francis, and talk and pray about your situation with someone you trust; you are invited to return to the table.  If you are a non-Catholic Christian, take the time to renew your commitment to the selfless service to others that Christ calls us to do.  If you are Jewish, renew your understanding of  the meaning of Passover, which begins this week, and heed the Commandments of Moses.  If you believe in another faith, look at the "other" aspect of its tenets and recommit yourself to the service of others.  If you are not a believer in any faith, or of the very popular secular humanism that pervades our country today, ask yourself  if this seeking of power, wealth, status, and collection of things has really been all that satisfying.  Ask yourself is "doing what feels right" really working.  Ask yourself is your life really all that fulfilling.  Ask yourself if this is really what you want.  There is  another way! Why not try serving someones else's needs today and see how that feels?    For all of us, this is a week to think about how different our lives would be if we thought of others first and tended to the poorest of our community before regaling ourselves in fancy Easter dress and traditions.   No matter what you have done, forgiveness is offered and reconciliation is possible.  Jesus' actions over 2000 years ago and God's response shows us that there is a better way to live our lives; there is a better way to relate to each other; there is a joy to be had by being "other" directed and especially caring for the poorest and least fortunate in our midst.  When we really believe that loving God and expressing that love through our service to others, we can change our world.  When we do this, we really understand the meaning of Easter and can experience that same radical conversion that those folks had many years ago.  What they learned is that life is about relationships: with God and with each other.  Think about it.  No, really stop and think about it.  Now, go visit a Church and become a part of a different sort of Easter Parade this year - one that will change your life and that of others.  May God Give You Peace!

Christmas 2014 - some random thoughts

We have just celebrated Advent and Christmas for this year.  We are now in the Christmas Season.  What kind of impact has this celebration had on your life?  For me, it has been a time on wondering and prayer: wondering if I am really in love with God first and prayer that I find the way of understanding and knowledge to re-direct my life in the way that God wants me to live.  

Reflecting upon the four weeks of Advent, I realize that our society really needs to re-tune itself to God's ways.  The four principles of Advent that form the four weeks of reflection are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  But modern man believes that hope is the "I wish", peace if the "absence of violence", joy is the "general happiness", and love is "sensual".  O how can we explain the reality of these four principles of our faith and help people to understand how far they have journeyed from the reality of God?!  Hope is a deeper understanding of a future of service, not just a "what's in it for me" selfishness.  Peace is the recognition that when one rests in God, there is a resolution of that inner conflict that is precipitated by modern desire and selfish gain.  Joy is the realization that God's peace brings an inner joy that is expressed  sincerity and a concern for the other.  Love is the looking outside of oneself to help the other and love God beyond all else.   

The essence of our life in Christ is getting outside of our own selfish needs and desires and becoming more centered upon the others'.  When we do that, we realize that this is more satisfying and rewarding that all of the accumulated things of this world:  goods, trinkets, power, position, and wealth.   When we do this, we become the Love that God is and transform the world around us.

May God Give You Peace this Christmas Season.  May His Love so burn in your heart that your life is transformed!

Leadership

Well, listening to what's been going on in Washington, D.C., one would surmise that our government is essentially non-functional due to a vacuum of leadership from all concerned.  All those folks do is argue about who's right and which party's ideas are relevant to the discussion (a term I use in its most sarcastic sense).  I thought that the point of representative government is for our "leaders" to represent the home district's wishes, desires, and needs, and then to work with other representatives to find a solution that is good for the entire country; not, draw a line in the sand and just say "NO" to every idea that comes along no matter how good or bad it may be.  Also, I thought that many of these folks (the entire D.C. crowd) claim to represent a faith of some sort, in many cases, Christian.  Somehow I find it really hard to believe that this is really true.  

It seems from the writer's view, that the DEMs require one to staunchly believe in abortion and redefining marriage and the GOP want to cut any spending designed to help the poor and give all the "goodies" to their already rich friends.  I am beginning to seriously question whether our two-party system is actually working or even good for our country any more.  The Party Line has become more important than solving the problems of the people in our nation.  Litmus tests abound and no real solution to the country's problems are apparent.

A while back I wrote about an idea to dissolve the party system in favor of a no-affiliation primary system and election compressed into a much shorter time span.  I still think this idea merits discussion. (See the October 4 posting.)

Moreover, I believe that we really need to concern ourselves with selecting what is known as "servant-leaders" for our representatives in our legislatures and in Congress.  A servant-leader isn't concerned for his or her re-election so much as solving the real problems facing our society today.  A person with this style of leadership would possess these qualities:

1. Listens;
2. Is aware;
3. Heals;
4. Transforms;
5. Works for growth in people;
6. Builds community; and
7. Reaches out to help others.

If the leader claims to be a Christian or other person of faith, I suggest that they look at Matthew 25 and 1 Corinthians 13 and make a real, honest evaluation of their conformance to these values.  Although I'm not as familiar with other faiths' scriptures, I'm certain that they have similar tenets in their sacred texts and saying.  The point is that people who want to be our leaders need to take a step back and re-evaluate their reason for being in that position.  And, we who elect them need to demand a higher standard for their service.

Prophetic comments

Well, here we are again.  Just been wondering about a few things since the last post.  I've been reading some of the Old Testament Prophets as a part of the daily readings.  So, I have formulated a few comments on today's society (maybe not original, but anyway thoughts about today):

• You kill your children and call it choice.
• You hoard all the money and call it free enterprise.
• You cut benefits from the poor, homeless, and children and call it balancing the budget.
• You return fathers to Mexico breaking up families and call it Immigration reform.
• You provide generous payments to companies already raking in the cash and call it economic necessity.
• You create violence and exploitation and call it artistic expression.
• You act like petulant school boys and call it representing your constituents.
• You call people nasty names and blot their reputation and call it campaigning and truth.

You are hypocrites and self-indulgent egotists.  You need to look at yourselves and stop being so self-serving.  You need to figure out how to serve the needs of others first and put your own selfish desires at the very bottom of the list.  Think of yourself last and others first.

The Great God Creator of the Universe loves and protects the poor.  You who are rich have your reward.  All of us are sinners - we controvert the will of God - and turn against the Good that is in all people.  When we concern ourselves with our own desires first and only, we are missing out on the total freedom that could be ours.  We must learn to think of others first and foremost - but it must be out of the love for God that is the origin of this service and selflessness.

May God Give  Us Peace!!