WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday proposed yet another compromise to address strenuous objections from religious organizations about a policy requiring health insurance plans to provide free contraceptives, but the change did not end the political furor or legal fight over the issue.
The proposal could expand the number of groups that do not need to pay directly for birth control coverage, encompassing not only churches and other religious organizations, but also some religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service agencies. Health insurance companies would pay for the coverage.
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors has dropped the traditional prayer before its meetings.
At a June 12 meeting, the board took up the appeal of an approved plan of development for a mosque on Hungary Road. With dozens of Muslims in the packed meeting room, the Rev. Tommy Knighten, associate pastor for children and families at Staples Mill Road Baptist Church, delivered the invocation, closing with “in Christ’s name I pray.”
The next day, County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett received an email saying that such a prayer “at a government meeting that is set to determine the fate of a Muslim religious center serves no other purpose than to create an atmosphere of hostility.”
County Attorney Joseph P. Rapisarda Jr. declined to release the name of the email’s author.
The email went on to say, “It would sadden me greatly if I were to learn that Henrico County viewed me as less important due to my lack of membership in the ‘right’ group” and asked the board to stop having prayers at its meetings.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia announced Monday that its executive director, Kent Willis, will be leaving his position when a replacement is found.
In a statement, the ACLU said Willis announced his intent to leave last fall and that the organization began a nationwide search for his successor. Willis was hired as associate director in October 1987 and promoted to executive director in March 1989.
“I could not have had a more rewarding job,” said Willis in the statement, “and I am proud to have been part of the ACLU’s many accomplishments and enormous organizational growth over the last 25 years. But something told me it was time to move on.”
Willis really has been there a long time. The Times Dispatch has a list of his major accomplishments. People seem to think that the ACLU picks up every liberal gig it can. That isn’t always the case. Several of Willis’ accomplishments caught my eye:
Defended the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to avoid government loyalty oaths, the right of ministers to use public parks for baptisms, the right of Wiccans to perform marriage ceremonies, and the right of churches to feed the homeless.
Launched a successful challenge to the widespread practice of local governments opening their meetings with sectarian prayers (Currently litigating such a case in Pittsylvania County.).
I sure didn’t know all that happened under bullet #1. Who would grouse about churches feeding the homeless? What loyalty oaths must we take? I can’t think of any. I also didn’t realize Wiccans can perform marriage ceremonies although it makes perfect sense that they can.
Just when you thought you had escaped the Dark Ages:
Virginia is on the brink of legislating a Personhood Bill, HB1, that effectively could outlaw hormonal birth control. It has gone to the Virginia Senate. Fertility specialists and OB/gyn specialists have expressed medical concerns over a bill this drastic. Of particular worry is treating ectopic pregnancy should this bill become law. Virginia is the laughing stock of the nation because of the spate of anti abortion laws.
Virginia isn’t the only hub of embarrassment. Now video had turned up from 2006 where presidential candidate Rick Santorum says that he feels birth control is harmful to society. He didn’t stop there, he elaborated that birth control really created a license where people could do anything they wanted. He seemed to equate contraception with premaritial sex. There was no mention of married couples.
Most people do not share his views. We live in a western society, not some banana republic or theocracy. People may believe what they want, for themselves. There has been an all out war for the past several years on Title X funding, in particular, Planned Parenthood has come under direct fire on the national and state leve and is in constant danger of defunding. l. Many of the same people who want to outlaw abortion also want to make contraception difficult to get hold of. This kind of thinking makes absolutely no sense.
It appears that the very conservative Council of Bishops has rejected the latest contraceptive plan issued by the White House. Are we surprised? I doubt if they will be satisfied. I speculate that if all contraception were forbidden from insurance policies, they might crack a smile.
Meanwhile, our post on this subject has been one of favorite brawl places. In the interest of all sides being aired (and yes, it is killing me to be the least bit egalitarian on this topic), Mika and Joe had an interesting discussion going on Friday. Cardinal Wuerl, the Arch Bishop of Washington is their guest.
The Cardinal seems to have an analogy for everything rather than dealing directly with an issue. The fact that he compares contraception to pornography says it all.
Two concepts, health care as it pertains to women and religion seem to be on a collision course.
Speaking at a Baptist church in Winter Park on Saturday, the former speaker received a standing ovation when he declared that embryonic stem-cell research amounts to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies.”
And in a news conference Sunday, he said he would ban all embryonic stem-cell research, including that done on discarded embryos created by in vitro fertilization.
Gingrich added that he would also create a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization, which has involved the creation of hundreds of thousands of excess embryos stored or discarded by fertility clinics.
“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at a news conference outside another Baptist church here. “If you have in vitro fertilization, you are creating life; therefore, we should look seriously at what the rules should be for clinics that are doing that, because they are creating life.”
The Foxie News Team and Sarah Palin are enjoying their mock indignation over the White House Christmas card this year. When will Sarah Palin’s opinion stop tickling our funny bone? Sit back and share the hypocrisy….
Nothing says hypocrisy like the Foxies….
Fox News has been droning on for weeks about the secular war on Christmas. It seems that they are part of the war.
And strangely enough, for a network known for reporting on the “War on Christmas,” all the Biblical references have been stripped out of the song “Joy to the World,” and instead replaced with Fox-friendly lyrics. Here’s a taste of the song: “Joy to the world for Fox News Channel, consistently number one, we are the network that viewers choose, fair and balanced news, see our ratings we don’t lose, beating the rest in TV news,” reads the first stanza. Later ones give kudos to Fox News personalities Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Shepard Smith, Megyn Kelly, Neil Cavuto, Bret Baier and the folks on “The Five.”
So, is this a lot of reindeer crap or what? How does Fox News get ahead with their mock war on Christmas. Their card is funny. I have no problem with it. Good healthy competition is always fun. But…why act like the President and his family are held to a higher standard regarding Christianity, of all things?
Shame of the Fox News Channel for this one.
Geez, if Pat Robertson says the GOP is too extreme, you need to worry. Isn’t this the dude who said Katrina was caused by gay people? If Pat get it, so should everyone else. If Pat “liberals are akin to Nazis’ Robertson thinks you are too extreme, maybe he is on to something. Perhaps he has had an ephiphany.
Let’s focus. Who is the candidate who is going to come through here and do a big whup-ass on Obama? Just tell us the candidate. We will prepare. Thanks for the warning, Pat. Will the next warning be delivered by a horde of locusts?
This particular session is the Romney version. Rachel Maddow hosts a man-cave session so that the male politicians understand female parts, pregnancy and birth control and how legislation that defines life beginning at conception or fertilization will outlaw contraception. It could even make miscarriage suspicious and open to investigation by authorities.
Mitt Romney is not the only person who is agreeing to legislation he really doesn’t understand. Most people don’t understand the unintended consequence of their words. Romney is just playing to his base. He doesn’t understand that his words would medically make contraception, which he believes in, illegal. Local politicians like Jackson Miller have voted for similartype legislation. Jackson also supports contraception and isnt aware of the unintended consequences.
One exception is too-long -in-office Delegate Bob Marshall, who originally ran on a term limits ticket when he first became a delegate. Bob Marshall has continually pushed for legislation that defines when life begins. He has sponsored legislation that goes back further than conception to include life beginning at the moment of fertilization or union of sperm and egg. Unlike Mitt Romney and Jackson Miller, Bob Marshall knows exactly what he is saying and doing. He has made a life time career out of attempting to outlaw not only abortion but also the use of contraception. He and his buddy at American Life League, Judie Brown, set out years ago to trick voters and the uninformed into passing legislation that would, in essence, make using contraception illegal. Don’t be caught off guard.
American Life League is located in Stafford, Virginia. Bob Marshall was involved in the formation of the organization, along with long time leader, Judie Brown. ALL is most definitely anti abortion AND anti contraception. If you queston Bob Marshall about wanting to outlaw contraception at one of the meet the candidates nights, he will not deny the charge. He just won’t bring it up and let the voters know his true intentions.
It is time for Delegate Bob to retire. His term limits have expired. Send his opponent Carl Genthner to Richmond. Carl supports the women of Virginia making their own contraception decisions and won’t try to trick them with defining life.
[Ed. note: as of 10/17 the offensive article bashing BRUU and its congregation remains. We can assume Mr. Candland has not demanded it be removed.]
Candidate Peter Candland needs to hold his supporters accountable for their behavior on his behalf. Last week, the Reverend Robert Jeffress spouted off about Mormons being a cult and not being Christian. Many bloggers and commentators, including Moonhowlings, took a strong stand against Mr. Jeffress’ specific brand of religious prejudice and denounced bashing an entire religion based on one person’s opinion.
Apparently not everyone feels that bashing someone’s religion is nasty business. BVBL has published a tirade against Candland’s opponent, Ann Wheeler, for having a fund-raiser in the home of Brian Pace who is a leader in the Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church in Manassas. Brian Pace was used as a springboard to launch into another diatribe vilifying BRUU and its perceived support of progressive issues, specifically opposition to the Marriage Amendment Act, various church events, Gay Prom Night for teens sponsored by BRUU and a variety of other ‘sins’ enumerated by the blogmeister. The piece was prejudicial, gay-bashing, anti-BRUU and illogical.
If elected, Gainesville Supervisor, Mr. Candland will represent people of many faiths, including some with whom he staunchly disagrees on matters of values and beliefs. If he is troubled by this fact, he should not be running for public office. Moreover, reaching out to potential constituents does not signify that Ann Wheeler or any other candidate agrees with the totality of the views held by any group of people. Must someone who supports Mr. Candland accept all of the beliefs of the Mormon Church? Many Protestants, Catholics, Jews and others support Mr. Candland on the basis of his stated conservative views. Why should we think that Ann Wheeler shares all of the beliefs of the BRUU any more than Mr. Candland’s supporters share all of the tenants of his Mormon faith?
The decision to not invite the clergy to ceremonies at Ground Zero on 9/11/11 had frosted many an American. Mayor Bloomberg has defended this position and has stressed that there is a separation of church and state. He has cited limited space and controversy over who would get invited as reasons to invite no clergy.
Michael Brown, director of FEMA on 9/11/01, who.was involved with clean up efforts at the government level, just reminded us that we have don’t have freedom from religion. We have freedom of religion.
I am not so sure “Brownie” is correct. The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that people in America are free from religion. Perhaps the best illustration of someone being free FROM religion is the Madalyn Murray O’Hair case, Murray vs. Curlett, that banned school prayer. In America, we are pretty much free to be no religion whatsoever if that is our choice.
Regardless, should the clergy automatically be included in 9/11 remembrances? Which clergy? Only Christians and Jews? How about Muslims? Hindus and Buddhists? How many members of the clergy are even in NYC? Should clergy from surrounding areas be included also? At what point would clergy start taking the spots of family members and first responders?
The clergy has never been included in city 9/11 observances. Why is it becoming an issue now? Who are the observances and remembrances really for?
Bill O’Reilly sternly criticized the media for describing Anders Behring-Breivik, the man who has admitted to committing the mass killings in Norway, as a Christian, saying that such a thing was “impossible.”
O’Reilly singled out the New York Times, which called Breivik a “Christian extremist” in an article. Breivik also referred to himself as a Christian, as did the Norwegian police, and his 1,500 page manifesto has been described as coming from a Christian perspective. In the manifesto, he writes that he does not have a “personal,” religious relationship with Christ, believes in Christianity “as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform,” which he says “makes [me] Christian.”
To O’Reilly, though, it was “impossible” that Breivik is a Christian.
“No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder,” he said. “The man might have called himself a Christian on the net, but he is certainly not of that faith…we can find no evidence, none, that this killer practiced Christianity in any way.”
I sure don’t recall O’Reilly howling over a man named Scott Roeder entering the church of Dr. George Tiller and gunning him down execution style. Dr. Tiller was an abortion provider.
Is it because O’Reilly had gone around for years before calling Dr. Tiller, “Tiller the Killer?” Was Scott Roeder a Christian? Is he not howling because Dr. Tiller is only one person?
Don’t people get to determine if they are Christian or not? Isn’t it up to that person and his or her God to determine that? I think we, as human beings, can certainly address ‘Christian behavior.” We all have a pretty good idea what constitutes good Christian behavior and I think we are entitled to give our opinion on such behaviors. However, I don’t think O’Reilly or any other human being gets to stand in judgement of whether someone else is a Christian or not. That is a self-identifying task that no one else can do for you.
The heavy metal evangelist Bradlee Dean, whose opening prayer Friday at the Minnesota House of Representatives has sparked a firestorm, does not much like Islam, a religion he believes is at war with the United States.
Dean has long believed that President Obama is a Muslim, and he often insists that Obama has declared America a Muslim nation. So it wasn’t terribly surprising when he snuck a slur against the president into his prayer. The Minnesota House of Representatives, he acknowledged, is a nondenominational chamber, which he takes to mean that all kinds of Christians are welcome. “[I]t’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans, or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination,” he said. The only head of the denomination—i.e., of the government —“is Jesus, as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged.”
Rep. Terry Morrow was so angry he shook. He responded:
“Mr. Speaker, I do trust and I do hope that every member of this chamber understands the gravity and the severity of the offense that had been given to many people within this chamber and out,” he said. “It has been my understanding that part of the justification, part of the explanation for starting our sessions with a prayer was that those prayers would never exclude, never marginalize a Minnesotan on the basis of their faith, on the basis of their beliefs, on the basis of who they are, and those expectations have been crushed today.”
Senior Zack Kopplin, age 17, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is leading the charge against a law that allows creationism to have equal time with evolution in Louisiana high schools. Kopplin attends Baton Rouge Magnet High School, and has been leading a campaign against the state’s Science Education Act since last summer. He has organized students, faculties, clergy, and business leaders to support the repeal of the law and has the support of at least 40 Nobel laureates.
The single most important reason why I took on this repeal was jobs,” Kopplin told me. “This law makes it harder for Louisiana students to get cutting-edge science-based jobs after we graduate, because companies like Baton Rouge’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center are not going to trust our science education with this law on the books.”
