Crying wolf: Catholic Church claims to be oppressed by teh gay and women's rights

[geek tragedy]

The Catholic Church has loudly and obnoxiously declared core elements of the Democratic party and liberal/progressive agenda to be per se anti-Catholic discrimination.

They preach from the pulpit, in violation of their tax exempt status:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57368259-503544/catholics-hear-anti-obama-letter-in-church/

the full letter from the Bishop of Marquette, read in church Sunday, is below.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:


I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be "of, by, and for the people," has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people -- the Catholic population -- and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful. ...

In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply. ...

They deny communion to people who have committed the grave crime of supporting marriage equality on Facebook;

http://now.msn.com/catholic-teen-denied-communion-for-pro-gay-marriage-facebook-post

and have a long history of trying to intimidate and bully American politicians (as well as those in Latin America) by refusing them communion because they enacted policies that respected the rights of women, including:

Mario Cuomo(the church contemplated EXCOMMUNICATION)
Gray Davis
John Kerry
Rudy Giuliani (for having the correct position on abortion, not for his bad policies)
Kathleen Sebelius
Joe Biden
Patrick Kennedy




The Catholic Bishops in the US even set up a website to detail the horrible ways in which Catholics (limited to a mere 56% of Supreme Court seats) face discrimination at the hands of the secular oppression machine known as liberal America.

http://firstamericanfreedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Current-Threats-to-Religious-Liberty.pdf

To spare folks the reading, the following are examples of oppression of American Catholics:

--Contraception being included in women's health insurance

--Laws forbidding anti-GLBTQ discrimination in adoption placement

--Laws forbidding discrimination against GLBTQ Americans who want to get married

--Laws making provision of or referrals for contraceptive services a requirement for grants from the government to combat anti-trafficking


So, just in case people are wondering why claims of anti-Catholic prejudice fall on somewhat deaf ears, the constant drone of dishonest whining from Rome and the bullys' pulpits about protecting women and GLBTQ Americans from discrimination being a form of anti-Catholicism has caused a lot of people to just tune such complaints out.

An organization dedicated to bullying and discrimination that plays victim does its members no favors with such behavior.

[get the red out]

1. Do as we say or you are OPPRESSING US

I guess oppression is denying them the right to rule our world? They need a dictionary.

[geek tragedy]

3. This is not to condone singling out individual Catholics

for harassment or scorn based on their status.

But, the Catholic Church's rightwing leadership has been bleating about how liberal ideas are inherently anti-Catholic bigotry for so long that people just tune the complaints about anti-Catholicism out.

Whenever I hear people complaining about "anti-Catholic" this or that I assume the complaint is either contraception, abortion, or anti-GLBTQ discrimination, and that the complainer is on the wrong side of the issue.

[Apophis]

2. Awwwww.

How many people has the Catholic church oppressed? At least half of the planet, for starters.

[geek tragedy]

6. They've done wonders for the Catholic brand by equating

support for GLBTQ rights and women's rights with anti-Catholicism.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. and as you see none of those politicians have either given up their faith nor given up on their

ideals.

[geek tragedy]

7. Ghouliani did, to the extent he had principles.

Despite living with a gay couple while he was getting divorced for cheating on his wife and humiliating her and his children in public, he later came out against marriage equality while running for President.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. he did that for political reasons not because the church told him to

and every single Catholic democrat on that list is still a Catholic and still holds all the same democratic positions on abortion, contraception, etc. They are not afraid of the church and they're not afraid of people telling them they must leave the church.

[geek tragedy]

11. How many less prominent politicians

and parishioners do get intimidated though?

[niyad]

5. so, clearly, the new pope is nothing more than window dressing

[geek tragedy]

8. We'll see. If 2000 years of history is any guide, probably. nt

[Go Vols]

14. +1

[randome]

9. I wonder what sort of database they use to list all the ways life is not perfect for them.

It would need to be something robust.

[truebrit71]

12. Fuck the catholic church...

...they could be on their knees begging for forgiveness for a thousand years for the sins comitted in their name and it STILL wouldn't be enough...

[niyad]

13. crusades, the inquisition and the burning times, not to mention the treatment of the indigenous

peoples of the new world, anyone?

[sadbear]

15. Not to worry! I was told right here on DU that

Catholics don't really give a shit what the Church says about those things. (It does make me wonder why they're Catholic at all.)