Catholic Right

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

I recently  called on mainstream Catholics to remonstrate against the aggressive behavior of reactionaries within the Church.  Increasingly bishops are playing politics with the Mass itself, denying Catholic elected officials who dissent on some matters, the sacrament of Communion.  Such coercion appears to me, and to many other Catholics, as part of an effort to compel all Americans to live under Catholic orthodoxy, subject to the interpretation of the prelates.

As I have written, dignified but firm acts of resistance are now the order of the day. In this post and the next, I will put forth and discuss possible paths for resistance. One obvious such path is to call out the hierarchy when they are being hypocritical. So let's begin there. One obvious example is the hypocrisy of church reactionaries when it comes to the politics of tobacco.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

On October 7, 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of a seven-foot cross currently standing in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California. Erected by veterans of the First World War in 1934, the religious symbol has become a significant bone of contention in the ongoing effort to define the proper separation of church and state. But beyond the basic issues of constitutionality, the occasion has provided a fresh platform for two members of the Catholic Right -- Bill Donohue and Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court Antonin Scalia to spew some extraordinary, and extraordinarily revealing, expressions of religious supremacy.

The day before oral arguments, The New York Times provided some background in an ediorial about the legal tug of war

Originally posted at Talk to Action

In a recent piece I described how certain players of the Catholic Right are attacking the idea of a public option for health care insurance. In doing so, they are employing a theological concept known as subsidiarity -- the concept that "issues be treated at the lowest level possible, that is, at the level closest to the individual."

The Catholic Right's stilted application of this doctrine is designed to mislead Catholics into believing that universal health care with a public option is inconsistent with the faith.

But that twisting leads to some unintended consequences as per Catholic social teaching.

Deal Hudson was one of the first to set the subsidiarity argument in motion this past August, first by dissembling about abortion coverage in pending legislation:

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Unsurprisingly the Catholic Right is front and center in fighting health care reform.  The primary target is the public option; a practical concept that would allow Americans to choose between a private and a government insurance plan.

The Catholic Right nay-sayers include not only include the usual suspects - Deal Hudson, Brent Bozell III and Bill Donohue - but several bishops and a cardinal.  And in doing so, they are using stock right-wing talking points that evoke fear and anxiety.

Key to any real reform of health care delivery in this nation is the implementation of some sort of public option for insurance.  Without it, there would be no impetus for insurance companies to provide coverage without denial due to pre-existing conditions or recission - the practice of collecting premiums but then canceling coverage as soon as the insured becomes ill.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently claimed that the Constitution does not prohibit the execution of an innocent man provided that he has had a fair trial. While this is astonishing enough coming from a man who holds himself out as a Catholic -- even more astonishing is how Justice Scalia substitutes his personal religious beliefs for the law and the Constitution.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Last week I discussed the Catholic Right's efforts to create a climate in the church that is so hostile that moderate and liberal Catholics would leave. This week I will examine why they are doing this.

Both the paleocon and neocon wings of the Catholic Right view faith as an essential element for a viable society.  It is, however how faith is to be put to work that separates the two philosophies.

Both camps desire a traditional Church, free of dissent.  One step in that direction has been to make the Church uncomfortable for non-traditionalists and current and would be dissenters from their agenda - to make the most well-organized religious institution in the world a major force for political reaction.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Many years ago when I was in law school I was taught the concept of constructive eviction. It is a process whereby a landlord wanting to evict tenants from one of his properties - say for converting the premises into a condo or a coop or to sell it - makes living conditions so unlivable that the tenants leave on their own volition.

I think something like this is going on in American, and even world Catholicism -- since elements of the Catholic Right seem to be hell bent on driving out moderate and liberal Catholics.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Last week I discussed the disturbing worldview of  CBS's go-to rightwing Catholic guy, pundit Rev. Thomas D. Williams, a member of the far right Legion of Christ. This is part of a larger trend that merits further discussion.

Neoconservatives and their theocon allies have had considerable success in getting us to see the world through their eyes; and each other as solely as all good or all bad; enemy or friend. These distortions often contribute to grotesque distortions of fact being presented as given truths.

This Manichean framing has infected the news media, which in turn functioned as a carrier of the disease. Apparently gone are the days of more nuanced newsman such as Edward R, Murrow, John Chancellor or Walter Cronkite, who assumed that we are intelligent enough to think and reason for ourselves; that the world is not black and white (even on TV) but that the news of the world mostly comprises shades of grey, where justice often only approximates the ideal.