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发帖数: 19713 | 1 Catholic Conference: Marriage Equality Bill Against Religious Liberty
By Julie Bolcer
TimothyDolanx390 (Arch NY) | Advocate.com
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan
The New York State Catholic Conference, which is lobbying to stop the state
Senate from voting on the marriage equality bill, argues that support for
the bill as currently worded would constitute “a vote against religious
liberty and against the very ministries and services that New Yorkers cannot
do without.”
In a note posted to Facebook Thursday morning, the conference, which is the
public policy arm of the Catholic Church in the state, stated what it
believes is the “real agenda” behind the legislation as currently worded.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo submitted the Marriage Equality Act Tuesday with language
for religious exemptions, specifically, to provide, parallel to the state’s
existing human rights law, that religious institutions, as private entities
, would not be required to solemnize same-sex weddings or to rent facilities
such as catering halls in opposition to their beliefs.
Critics, including the Catholic Church and some Jewish leaders, argue that
the religious protections are inadequate. They want to be assured against
challenges to their tax-exempt status and against the denial of state
funding for services like adoption and foster care should they not recognize
same-sex unions, as Catholic Charities adoption agencies in Illinois and
Washington, D.C., have chosen to do.
“Do they really want to close adoption and foster care agencies and other
religious ministries?” asks the New York State Catholic Conference. “Are
they seeking to label faith-based institutions as unlawful discriminators?
Will they go after the tax-exempt status of these ‘discriminating’
institutions? Can the Church trust assurances from the same lawmakers who
forced Catholic schools and hospitals to pay for contraception insurance or
who are trying to make Catholic hospitals allow abortions? Who's kidding
whom?”
Many of the religious exemptions have been articulated by Sen. Greg Ball, an
undecided Republican who has said he cannot vote for the bill as the
language currently stands. Cuomo has indicated no inclination to negotiate
the language, which New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg described as
adequate after his meeting with Senate Republicans in Albany Tuesday.
However, even with the addition of more religious exemptions, it it
difficult to imagine any marriage equality bill that the Catholic Church
would not lobby to defeat. A spokesman for the New York State Catholic
Conference was not immediately available for comment. | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 2 When someone relinquishes his/her capability of independent thinking,
ANYTHING can happen and he/she CAN say ANYTHING even if it sounds totally
outlandish or downright stupid. There is nothing unexpected about this. |
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