Last month, as the Duck Dynasty flap (ha!) was winding down, I wrote my opinion on the eventual death of religious freedom in America. It won’t be insidious, nor will it be a shadowy conspiracy. Rather, it will be much like the same-sex marriage discourse; one day the Church will be the next most-vulnerable opponent of the Progressive agenda, and the public’s whole worldview will subtly shift to a whole new understanding that makes the Church’s position completely unacceptable to the majority of those in power (Judges, in this case. Not voters or their legislators)
So imagine my un-surprise when I read this today:
“UN Report Attacks Catholic Church’s Teachings on Abortion, Sexuality”
A UN committee has told the Catholic Church to get over its opposition to adolescents having sex and that it needs to change its teachings on abortion and homosexuality…
The Committee specifically told the Church “to review its position on abortion which places obvious risks on the life and health of pregnant girls and to amend Canon 1398 relating to abortion with a view to identifying circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted.”
The Committee lamented “the negative consequences of the Holy See’s position and practices of denying access to contraception, as well as to sexual and reproductive health and information.” The Committee directed the Church “to access the serious implications of its position on adolescents’ enjoyment of highest attainable standard of health and overcome all the barriers and taboos surrounding adolescent sexuality…”
The Committee is also displeased with the Church for not recognizing same-sex families: “The Committee recommends that the Holy See ensure that Canon Law provisions recognize the diversity of family settings and do not discriminate children (sic) based on the type of family they live in.”
The Committee also charged the Church with contributing to violence against homosexuals: “The Holy See’s past statements and declarations on homosexuality which contribute to the social stigmatization of and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents and children raised by same-sex couples.”
So a UN committee is giving explicit guidelines on how to change Church doctrine. While the UN is not the US, it hardly needs to be pointed out that such an edict should be unthinkable in the US as a violation of the First Amendment.
The doctrine of “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” played no small part in allowing Christians to reconcile the Holy and the mundane to survive as an oppressed religion and rise to majority without becoming an explicit theocracy. In many ways, this is the spirit of the First Amendment as well. But Lewis Carroll gave us a wonderful metaphor for understanding the fate of dissenters in a Progressive society:
Queen of Hearts: Now then, are you ready for your sentence?
Alice: But there has to be a verdict first.
Queen of Hearts: Sentence first! Verdict afterwards.
Alice: But that just isn’t the way.
Queen of Hearts: [shouting] All ways are…!
Alice: …your ways, your Majesty.
I really have little interest in defending the Catholic Church’s teachings per se, but I am acutely interested in the boldness of the growing singular world government asserting its right to dictate doctrine to a major world religion. I predict this conflict will only continue to grow, until such time as the Church is found to be a Hate Organization by the SLPC…and it sticks.
iParallax 