Whose religious freedoms at stake?

Who hasn’t heard the latest catch phrase, “religious liberty?” It didn’t just pop up; the Catholic bishops and fundamentalist church leaders agreed in advance that this phrase would strike fear in the hearts of fundamentalist Christians and Catholics during the 2012 political campaigns and produce a positive effect on their agenda.

All of it is tied into women’s reproductive rights and the fact that various church leaders want us to view these rights as evil. The Catholic hierarchy warns about losing “religious liberty” if insurance companies have to pay for contraceptives for females, but 98 percent of their own parishioners have used them

The U.S. Conference of Bishops has formed a new, well financed lobbying arm in Washington, D.C., with the express purpose of getting their theology enacted into law. It seems that if they cannot control their own parishioners through church dogma, the even better way is to legislate their outdated sexuality beliefs onto all of us.

Our Founding Fathers were well acquainted with the history of Europe — centuries of religious wars that left that continent decimated. This was one of the main reasons for including the non-establishment of religion clause in our Constitution.

If we do not protect the time-honored principle of separation of church and state, but allow any religion to force us to theocratic rule through legislation, then who is it, really, who has lost their religious liberty? Not the religious fanatics, but you and I, that’s who.

Judith Vandenboom

Cary