Ed Morrisey reports:
According to the First Amendment and the Establishment Clause, the government has no business dictating to religious organizations how they should structure themselves. In Connecticut, though, some lawmakers seem to have skipped over the Constitution. A new bill will require Catholic parishes and dioceses — and only Catholics — to organize their parish leadership in a way that pleases the Connecticut legislature (via The Corner)...American Papist has more:
On top of it being an outrageous violation of the First Amendment it is also particularly anti-Catholic, and the politicians who have introduced and supported this bill should be strongly rebuked not just by Catholics, but by all Americans who hate religious discrimination and "hate legislation."Both sources will have updates, as I am sure that many more will also. Much thanks to The Anchoress for the heads up on this.
One particularly-offensive line in the bill (emphasis mine):
"The corporation shall have a board of directors consisting of not less than seven nor more than thirteen lay members. The archbishop or bishop of the diocese or his designee shall serve as an ex-officio member of the board of directors without the right to vote."
That's right - archbishops and bishops under this bill would be stripped of their power to govern.
Update
Get Religion wonders why the media is ignoring the story altogether.
Further Update
From The Anchoress who wrote a stunningly good and thoughtful post on the whole thing:
UPDATE: Well, a reprieve of sorts. Seems“The bill is dead for the rest of the legislative session. As soon as word spread about the bill, the Legislative Office Building was flooded with telephone calls and e-mails on Monday. The bill, virtually overnight, became the hottest issue at the state Capitol.”.(H/T Ace) That’s good. But it’s still on the way - next year, year after that. This battle is going to happen. Bank on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment