Catholic Bishops Vote to Double Down on Culture War
Reaffirming their fine tradition of looking the future squarely in the eye and then blinking and retreating to the comforting exegesis of the past, the have voted .
The U.S. Catholic Bishops' vote to maintain their politically aggressive Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty for another three years signals that despite the warnings of Pope Francis to tone down the culture war stuff, the bishops are fully invested in their crusade against same-sex marriage and universal access to birth control.
And its no wonder, given the people theyre listening to for advice. On Thursday, the bishops will hear presentations on marriage from Helen Alvare, a former staffer and leading far-right proponent of the contraceptive mentality and its supposed dangers to women and marriage, and W. Bradford Wilcox, author of a controversial Washington Post op-ed which advised women to get married already so they wouldnt get beaten or raped by their boyfriends (original headline: One way to end violence against women? Stop taking lovers and get married).
Its the dream team of socially regressive conservative tripe on why marriage is good for everyoneexcept gay people, for whom it is very, very badand contraception is evil, largely because it allows women to avoid marrying their baby daddies.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/patriciamiller/7936/catholic_bishops_vote_to_double_down_on_culture_war/