Wash. Times' Kuhner: Obama "Has Declared War On The Catholic Church And Religious Liberty"
January 26, 2012 11:55 pm ET by Media Matters staff
In his January 26 Washington Times column, titled "Obama threatens religious liberty: Mandating contraception coverage violates the Christian conscience," Jeffrey Kuhner wrote that because of his "deep contempt for Christianity and democracy," President Obama "has declared war on the Catholic Church and religious liberty," a reference to a recent decision by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to not exempt certain religious institutions from a mandate that health insurance plans cover contraception and women's reproductive health. Kuhner further wrote that Obama is a "militant secularist" whose "aim is to purge religion from the public square."
From the Times:
Like many leftists, President Obama has deep contempt for Christianity and democracy. This is why his administration has declared war on the Catholic Church and religious liberty.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently went ahead and approved last year's decision to mandate that many religious organizations provide health insurance plans to their employees that include contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization coverage -- and this must be done without charging a co-pay. In other words, Mr. Obama has done something that is ominous and unprecedented: compelling religious groups to embrace and subsidize free birth control. Catholic universities, hospitals and charities must either betray their fundamental social teachings or drop insurance coverage for their employees, thereby triggering massive financial penalties under Obamacare. The choice is simple: Abandon Catholic doctrine or go out of business.
[...]
Mr. Obama is the most radical president in our history. He is spearheading a liberal social revolution, not just an economic one. He supported partial-birth abortion -- the heinous procedure of killing babies just before they are to be delivered. His administration refuses to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act. He has enabled homosexuals to serve openly in the military, transforming the armed forces into a vast laboratory for social engineering. His signature legislation, Obamacare, allows for the federal funding of abortion. Hence, Christians will be forced to have their tax dollars subsidize the mass murder of unborn children -- a direct attack on their most basic religious tenets. He is making Christians complicit in infanticide.
[...]
Mr. Obama is a militant secularist. His aim is to purge religion from the public square, forcing it to retreat into the private sphere -- making it nothing more than a personal lifestyle choice. He wants us to leave our faith at the door when engaging in civic life. Yet religion is natural to human beings. The only way radical progressives can forge a secular social order is through a repressive state.
The Obama administration is eroding the First Amendment, assaulting the conscience rights and religious liberties of Catholics and waging a relentless campaign to destroy America's Judeo-Christian values. Catholics must engage in civil disobedience. Otherwise, Mr. Obama will succeed in dismantling our republic. Today, he is coming for us. Tomorrow, it will be you.
Previously:
Guilfoyle: Contraception Regulation Part Of Obama's Alleged "War Against The Catholic Church"
Fox Uses Contraception Regulation To Push Obama Anti-Catholic Smear
Which echoes the claims of "secular humanists", "militant homosexuals", "black nationalists", etc. of previous decades. The fact that their imagined widespread leftist conspiracies to take their freedom, brainwash their kids, and destroy America never actually come to fruition (or exist, for that matter) doesn't seem to stop these people from inventing new ones to rile up the base.
The sad thing is how well it works.
This one stands out for me. Kuhner regularly hits the slander ceiling, busting the hyperbole meter in the first paragraph.
But old chestnuts like this have a special place in my heart.
And the first thing I heard was Lispy explaining to his audience that the reason the president speaks at an eighth grade level is that those are the only people naive enough to believe him..
Then he misused the word "perfunctory" ( apparently his word-of-the-week), a word he misused at least three times in a single clip at this site yesterday.
My comment was meant to convey the idea that the intelligence her comments display belies her age.
I'm obviously a byproduct of the liberal media bias and those darned public schools filling my head with radical ideas like "sciece" and "reasoning".
ps: you spelled "science" wrong. Yeah! Gotcha!! ;0)
But Sun Myung Moon declared war on all other religions, including Roman Catholicism, decades ago, converting to his cult and brainwashing as many of their adherents as he possibly could in order to take their money and extract profit from their labor. And that is the God's honest truth.
As to healthcare cover, if a treatment or procedure is legal then it must be covered. The problem alluded to is a natural clash where employers get stuck in the game. The safest way to avoid this is to have a publicly funded and therefore secular system.
"He has enabled homosexuals to serve openly in the military, transforming the armed forces into a vast laboratory for social engineering"
If "open gay people exist" = "laboratory", then we've already been conducting this experiment. It's called "living in the world". That experiment ran for decades and ended successfully years ago. We've let them talk, teach people stuff, drive forklifts, all sorts of things. It worked out okay.
I will say that there is a difference between open society and the military, however. Dealing with the subculture, the enclosed world of the military changes everything, so it's certainly possible that what works in society doesn't necessarily translate to military life. In this case, though, there's no reason that homosexuals can't work in the military. We already have UCMJ for sexual assault, sexual harassment, etc, so that applies to everyone. There are no unwanted advances to worry about.
Essentially it's just "the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, so you shouldn't accept them!"
Very popular tactic with right wing website morans... " I notice you didn't refute bullet point #73... thanks for admitting I'm right!!"
And thanks for giving any wingnuts reading another thing to be scared of - the possibility that some item they've purchased was moved by means of Gay Forklift.
Well, I hate to burst a seething Troglodyte's bubble, but that's all it's ever been, in reality. It's just that tyrants over the centuries have used it as a boot on the necks of their subjects, thereby branding it into our cultural identity.
Fortunately, our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to exclude it from our Government. I guess that makes them militant secularists, too.
They seem to think that all of the fancy buildings, flamboyant costumes and established rituals make it a more important opinion than others.
Infusing Religion into Government only invites conflict over ridiculously trivial points of superstition.
An opinion, yes, but one based on belief.
I'm pretty hard to offend, because I'm very sure of my faith, but I'm also a bit of an outcast: a liberal (socially) Christian. So far as I know, you haven't offended me, Andy Kreiss, so I say just keep on calling it like you see it!
>^o.-^<
To be clear, even if religion seems nutty to me, I do not think that all believers are nuts. ;0)
And part of their 'deal' is the government gets to set some of the conditions. If they do not like those conditions...OPT OUT. Instead, they have voluntarily asked for government interference...and now claim they dont like it.
Where else can people purchase a product with Pre Tax dollars. Do you purchase your car insurance that way? No. Homeowners Insurance? No. You name it..virtually nothing else.
Health insurers, for the most part, get to market and sell their product BEFORE you take home your net pay. I am not implying that this is wrong...simply noting that this works very well for them. For the employers too. To make up for the tax savings, employers would have to pay their employees more, if the employee were to purchase comparable coverage.
And if any company does not wish to comply, based on religious issues....just pay your employees the difference, and let them purchase their own insurance. But if they want the benefit of the IRS deduction (and all the SOCIALIST traits of group insurance)...they have to play by the IRS (government) rules. Its not right to ask the government to be any part of their religious restrictions.
And sex is also something which is natural to humans, but we don't have porn shows on the Courthouse lawn. That would be infringing on the rights of those who don't want to see that.
Just like some people don't want to see your religion, either.
It's just perfect, though.
This latest bit about the contraceptives is so misguided. At the risk of approaching a slippery slope argument, imagine some of the implications.
There are some religious factions who don't believe in vaccines or many other types of medical procedures. Since ( as discussed above) religion is simply an opinion and a lifestyle choice, requiring no official membership, couldn't an employer avoid covering just about anything if he claimed it didn't jibe with his faith ?
As a matter of incontrovertable fact, by the way, the United States of America was not founded on Judeo-Christian principles (although I would contend that Islam was). The U.S. was founded, from Revolution to Constitution, on Enlightenment Principles. Even the contradiction over slavery is reflected in one of The Enlightenment's leading philosophers - John Locke was an investor in the slave trade.
How ironic, claiming "radical progressives" are forging a repressive state while, at the same time, saying it's okay for a single religion to force its beliefs and way of life on individual citizens who do not believe in that religion's doctrine.
And these people complain about Sharia Law. Hypocrisy, thy name is Kuhner.
It is about Big Businesses that are owned and operated under the auspices of The Catholic Church.
Here in Toledo, Ohio, the seven largest hospitals are all Catholic hospitals.
They employ hundreds of thousands of people.
Their Clinics and other healthcare businesses additionally employ hundreds of thousands more.
Until the new laws, they were exempt from having to pay for contraception for their employees.
So HHS ruled that if an employee of a religious institution wants to purchase contraception that their ESP cover it?
Looks like pure fascism to me.
If religious institutions are so worried about it, why not do a better job screening employees so that none of them are prone to engage in this clearly blasphemous conduct?
*rolls eyes*
No
It
Does
Not
It never have has been, never will be. The Hyde Amendment already forbade it. But not enough to mollify terrified morons in Congress, the Affordable Care Act again prohibited it.
Stop lying to people who don't know any better you troll.
and turn it into this:
Anyone can take generic platitudes and apply them to whomever they choose. This is what Republican media does, and they do it well.
I can also add the challenge for anyone to prove me wrong, which serves to give my meaningless proclamation some validity because all I have to do is name a few instances that support my thesis, reiterate that I didn't say "all Christians" and presto (!) I have a "fact" which I can now use to springboard other ridiculous ideas off of.
Christmas
Christianity
Democracy
Capitalism
Freedom
Liberty
For a group that is weak on war, we seem to waging a lot of them.
And apparently, we're so effective at it that if we aren't stopped soon, we're going to destroy America...or freedom...or Jesus...or something.
Have they not forgotten how they trumpeted the Hyde Amendment when it was passed?
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Never mind who sent this. It’s all TRUE. I checked it out at Snopes…….
From:
To:
Subject: WHO IS BARACK OBAMA?
There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA. It is every American's duty to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones.
Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times. Even in the shower.
Barack Obama says the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE every time he sees an American flag. He also ends every sentence by saying, "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL." Click here for video of Obama quietly mouthing the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in his sleep.
A tape exists of Michelle Obama saying the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE at a conference on PATRIOTISM.
Every weekend, Barack and Michelle take their daughters HUNTING.
Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.
Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It's upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.
There's only one artist on Barack Obama's iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.
Barack Obama goes to church every morning. He goes to church every afternoon. He goes to church every evening. He is IN CHURCH RIGHT NOW.
Barack Obama's new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH.
Barack Obama's skin is the color of AMERICAN SOIL.
Barack Obama buys AMERICAN STUFF. He owns a FORD, a BASEBALL TEAM, and a COMPUTER HE BUILT HIMSELF FROM AMERICAN PARTS. He travels mostly by FORKLIFT.
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My friend is a humorist who modified an article in Salon
I'm a little concerned about the Obamas' lack of children, however. I suspect they may secretly be using birth control.
Could I get a diagram of that? I'm not sure if I should completely trust my vasectomy...
>^o.-^<
(little-known history: electric forklifts were largely responsible for the baby boom)
Kuhner is a delusional religious fanatic,
and/ or,
he is an unscrupulous liar..
He can keep screaming this lie from the rooftops from now until the second coming of Christ but he can not make it be the truth.
So, either Kuhner is a delusional religious fanatic, unhinged and detached from reality, lost in his psychosis,
and/ or,
he is an unscrupulous liar.
Oh, and neither do we care about the marital status of her and the "First Bloke".