Leo Brown: All Christians, not just Catholics,
should be concerned about federal mandate

What if you had a deeply held belief that was suddenly threatened by an act of federal law, how would you react? What if this issue was so foundational to your faith that you feared your church could potentially be compromised, if not completely jeopardized? And what if this issue was tied to something that had seemingly positive effects for the populace but inherently, and perhaps inadvertently, could erode 200-plus years of constitutional protection? That is exactly what the Catholic Church is facing with the current mandate promulgated by our federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services that would require Catholic institutions to violate their consciences and offer health care plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortifacients.

Amish are exempt. Apparently the Christian Scientists are equally not required to participate with the recent mandate of “reproductive health” services to be included in the sweeping reform of health care. One might wonder why there seems to be such inequality that would allow a select and small few to slide under the radar while at the same time the largest single religious organization in the country is being forced to face the consequences should it refuse to participate in something it sees as intrinsically evil. This is unparalleled. The federal government is systematically attacking the core beliefs of the Catholic Church by forcing it to violate its principles. Yet unlike the Amish and Christian Scientists, we Catholics have not been granted an exemption for our conscience protection.

Why, you might ask, does the Catholic Church hold such seemingly extreme positions that it could be at odds with the federal government? I believe to answer this question we must first look at what human dignity means. The dignity of each human being is indelibly marked and equal in each of God’s human creations. As Catholics we see this dignity extended even to the unborn baby in his mother’s womb. Each of God’s creations is unique and unrepeatable. Add to this understanding the fact that as Catholics we exalt marriage to the level of Sacrament. Our understanding of Sacrament is an outward sign of a inner grace that reveals Christ to the world. Our marriage position is deeply rooted in St. Paul’s description of the marriage model in the book of Ephesians chapter five. We believe that marriage is not only a unitive experience, but also procreative. Therefore we believe, just as all Christians did before 1930’s Lambeth Conference in the Anglican Church, that contraception is an intrinsic evil because it removes God from the equation of marriage.

The Catholic position on contraception may not be popular today among our fellow Christians, but this is no reason to simply ignore the threat to the Catholic Church. This is foundational to liberty of all Christians in America, if not eventually all Americans. This first amendment of our Constitution guarantees protection from government intrusion into the free practice of religion. This is often misrepresented as a “separation” of church and state when in actuality it is a protection of church from state. What we are facing under the new health care mandate is a definitive intrusion into our free practice. As a religious institution, just like our Amish and Christian Scientist brothers and sisters, we should be allowed to fully practice our faith in all aspects of our life. This should include being allowed to choose health care plans that don’t offer contraception, sterilization and abortifacients.

So let’s get back to why all Christians should be concerned. If the federal government can tromp on the first amendment to the Constitution with such haphazard abandonment, then what will come next? Some have already proposed a freedom of “worship” opposed to a freedom of religion. This would mean that whatever you do on Sundays behind closed doors is all well and good but don’t event think about bringing that out into the public square. We could see prayer banned in all public places. Don’t even think about grace before meals in a restaurant should this happen.

I realize this all sounds extreme, but as of right now the Catholic Church has been “allowed” a one-year extension from the originally proposed date of August of this year to find a way to comply or face consequences. If this mandate goes into effect unchallenged then we may as well tear our Constitution to shreds and forget we ever had one. If we continue down this slippery slope, and continue to allow our conscious to be violated, then we must realize our pledge will soon have to be recited as “liberty and justice for NONE.”

Leo Brown is a certified Catechist of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington and general manager of the Catholic radio station Real Life Radio 1380 AM and 94.9 FM. Leo is a central Kentucky native, a communications graduate from EKU, was formerly known as Freakdaddy at both Double Q and Z103 and has spent close to 15 years in active ministry. Hear Leo daily on Real Life Radio as the host of Diocese Live from 3:10 to 5 p.m.