First Amendment is a Slippery Slope
| First Amendment is a Slippery Slope |
 Listening to the beltway media from FOX News to MSNBC, it appears the GOP (including John Boehner and all of the Republican presidential candidates) have found a juicy anti-Obama message that they believe will help them beat Obama and win a majority in the House and Senate in November. Most of the talking heads – including a few angry Catholic Bishops – are claiming that a Health and Human Services rule requiring full coverage for birth control (with no copay requirement) under the Affordable Care Act is “an attack on religious freedom.”
The argument against the rule goes something like this: The rule violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because the Federal Government is forcing the Catholic religion to violate its own teachings that the use of birth control is against God’s will.
Of course a majority of the pundits and all of the Bishops are men and 98% of all women say they have used birth control at some point in their lives. But that is beside the point.
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have all vowed to take action to thwart the rule. As I write this I am shaking my head in disbelief at their hypocrisy.
If I am not mistaken, each of the men named in this article have repeatedly warned of a “slippery slope” toward unintended consequences if same-sex couples are ever granted equal marriage rights.
And isn’t it true that the federal law banning polygamous marriage is the only thing standing between Mormon men and their right to multiple wives?
A conspiracy theorist might say that is why Mitt is so supportive of the Catholic Bishops.
Perhaps Mitt sees this as an opportunity to finally vindicate his polygamous grandfather who was forced to flee to Mexico in order to practice his religious teachings.
If the Catholic Bishops, Mitt, Rick, Newt, John and Mitch get their wish, won’t they be ushering in what they seem to fear most -- a Constitutional protection for polygamy, bestiality, incest and – gasp – same-sex marriage as a First Amendment religious practice?
What if the Metropolitan Community Church leadership used the argument that the Defense of Marriage Act violates THEIR religious doctrine because they perform same-sex marriage that the federal government then refuses to recognize?
If the Catholic Bishops and GOP presidential hopefuls are able to open the door to marriage equality by standing up for religious practices NO MATTER WHAT – I say go for it!
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