Risk Santorum would have us believe that he’s talking about religious freedom. He would have us believe that the government is intruding on his freedom to practice his religious beliefs and imposing some alternate moral code on him and his family. Well, I have a couple of questions I’d like him to answer.
Did the government force him and his wife to practice contraception, when he is opposed to it on religious grounds?
Did the government insist that he send his kids to a public school rather than homeschooling them?
Has the government interfered with his choice to run for President?
Did Pennsylvania prevent him from running for Congress?
If the answer to those questions is “no,” then just how does he figure that the government is infringing on his right to practice his religion?
On the other hand, is he willing to grant the same right to others to practice their religion if that belief doesn’t square with his particular version of Catholicism? From what I see, I wonder. He finds it troubling that Catholic non-church institutions be required to include contraception coverage for their employees. However, he overlooks the obvious fact that not all employees of those institutions are Catholic. So, when competing religious views are at stake, he seems to think it ok to favor the religious liberty of those he agrees with and to disregard the religious liberty of those he doesn’t.
The tension inherent in the issue of contraception coverage is precisely the reason for the First Amendment’s wording. It is precisely why we cannot legislate according to a particular, specific set of religious beliefs.
It’s curious that the people who seek to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us are the same ones who feel the need to legislate against Sharia Law and who would deny Muslims the right to erect buildings in which to worship.
More Light Than Heat 