Archbishop José H. Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles explains the increasingly difficult situation the Catholic Church finds itself. More and more, as the Church defends its moral teachings in the public square, it is curtailed and harried by offensive court rulings and portrayed as an institution of intolerance to be marginalized. From First Things:
We are slowly losing our sense of religious liberty in America.
There is much evidence to suggest that our society no longer values the public role of religion or recognizes the importance of religious freedom as a basic right. As scholars like Harvard’s Mary Ann Glendon and Michael Sandel have observed, our courts and government agencies increasingly treat the right to hold and express religious beliefs as only one of many private lifestyle options. And, they observe, this right is often “trumped” in the face of challenges from competing rights or interests deemed to be more important.
The warnings spelled out by Archbishop Gomez shouldn't be taken lightly. It is, of course, no coincidence that these subtle and not-so-stubtle assaults on the prerogatives of the Church are taking place while Obama is at the helm.
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