Pope Francis To Send Out Priests To Forgive The 'Sin' Of Women Who Have Had Abortions

[NanceGreggs]

39. Of course.

All kinds of groups, organizations, etc., influence public policy. And THAT is where the fight lies - fighting the transition from religious dogma to legislative influence.

Trying to fight the Pope's decrees and declarations to Catholics is pointless. He's not going to change his position, because he is adhering to his interpretation of Canon law.

The battle to be fought is when a politician takes up the cause of the Pope's decrees - or the decrees rendered by any other religious leader - and attempts to insert them into US legislation.

To say "The Pope said this, therefore we must battle the Pope" is meaningless. We have no sway over Catholic dogma and the tenets of that faith, or any other.

What we DO have is a right - I would say an obligation - to battle politicians who try to replace US law with religious law, or attempt to conflate the two.

If an Orthodox rabbi reminds his faithful that they can't eat pork, that's THEIR business - he and his fellow religionists. When an elected US legislator tries to pass a law that forbids the sale/consumption of pork products, it becomes OUR business as a nation.

Recognizing that various religious beliefs/practices exist is common sense, because we all know they do. And as long as they are confined to "the faithful", they are of no concern to anyone else. When those beliefs/practices find their way into our nation's political discourse, THAT is the time to take up arms against them. Not before.

Catholics have every right to believe that their religion forbids birth control and abortion. What they don't have a right to do is impose that belief on anyone else. So what do you choose to fight against? Do you think it is productive to try and convince the Catholic church that their religious beliefs are fucked-up? Or do you think it is more productive to say "believe what you will, but your rights end where mine begin"?

There is a battle to be waged here - but it is not against religious belief; it is against religious belief becoming part-and-parcel of the laws that govern us.