The Catholic War on Women

[MarkCharles]

As we near the 2012 presidential election, continued economic progress means that we are almost certain to see Republicans push wedge issues (e.g., gay marriage, abortion, and President Obama's so-called war on religion). They had been planning to run on the economy, but if the economy appears to be moving in the right direction, they have nothing else but their wedge issues. So let's take a look at this war on religion Obama is allegedly waging.

As part of reforming health care, the Obama administration is seeking to provide all women with access to affordable contraception. By removing the cost barrier, women would be more free than ever before to choose for themselves whether they will use contraception.

Who could possibly have a problem with that? As it turns out, the Catholic Church is upset about this. You see, even though an overwhelming majority of Catholics in the U.S. use contraception, the Church still adheres to the Vatican position that birth control is essentially equivalent to abortion. And Republicans desperate for a wedge issue have taken up this cause to argue that Obama is waging war on religion.

http://www.atheistrev.com/2012/02/catholic-war-on-women.html


And many of us in DU have been told, over and over again, by the faithful believers, that these "radical" positions do not really represent the true nature of progressive Christianity today. We have been told over and over again that such "radical" positions represent only a small fringe element of Christianity.

[Angry Dragon]

1. The leaders of the RCC hate women

I just do not understand this position
WIthout women there would be no Christian religion

[skepticscott]

2. Well, they don't hate women so long as

they keep their place...which in their minds is childbearing and nurturing and supporting men.

[Angry Dragon]

3. That is called tolerating

[skepticscott]

6. The problem is that

for some strange reason, those pesky women refuse to keep their place. Even when they've been told to. Hence the hate.

[niyad]

4. whatever the progressive makeup of the congregations, the hierarchy of ALL the abrahamic religions

are sexist at best, and woman-hating at worst.

When I was still in the rcc, the local priest told everyone that contraception was a matter of individual conscience. he got booted out about the same time I did.

the pope is not "a small fringe element", for one small example.

[niyad]

5. does anyone else remember this incident from the "small fringe element"??

On Jan. 4, Cardinal Franc Rode resigned as head of the "cabinet office" in the Vatican that deals with religious orders, including communities of nuns worldwide. It's called the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. He is being replaced by a Brazilian, Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz. And the new second in command is an American, Archbishop Joseph Tobin.

American nuns and Vatican-watchers wonder what's afoot. Rode, by all accounts, is an arch-conservative with an archaic view of religious life that resonates with the 18th century, rather than the 21st. His most famous (or infamous, depending on whom you ask) project was a formal "investigation" of all active orders of nuns in the United States, formally announced at a press conference in January 2009. A month later, the Vatican announced a "doctrinal investigation" of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the organization representing the collective leadership of about 90 percent to 95 percent of all nuns in the United States.

These investigations came out of the clear blue sky, without any allegations of wrongdoing that usually prompt official probes. And they brought howls of protest from nuns themselves and many in the laity. Typical was the comment of a friend of mine: "Now ... let me get this straight. Some priests committed sex abuse. Bishops covered it up. And so they're investigating nuns?" The investigation of nuns has nothing to do with sex abuse, of course, but that scandal led some to ask if this is an attempt to deflect attention away from the sex abuse debacle.

The leaders of women's communities, a group that usually seeks dialogue with Rome on difficult issues, protested the entire process. When a written questionnaire (phase 2 of the investigation) was sent to all communities, a very large percentage protested its intrusiveness and simply refused to fill it out.


. . . .


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-fiedler/new-twists-in-the-vatican_b_807496.html

[MarkCharles]

7. No, I never heard about that before, but...

I guess even Nuns are getting uppity!!!!

The Roman Catholic Church has hardly entered the 20th century, it seems. Perhaps they DO believe in evolution, but not in a women's right to control her own body.