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  • The U.S. Catholic Bishops, “Religious Freedom,” and the 2012 Presidential Election Campaign: A Reflection
  • Steven R. Goldzwig (bio)

“Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women. Those are things we can do.”

Barack Obama1

On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA). While rightly perceived as a major victory for the administration, not all were appeased or satisfied. In particular, before the Supreme Court ruling, the U.S. Catholic Bishops had been actively opposing the ACA on a number of fronts, including statements directed to U.S. Catholics, calls for remedial legislation, and litigation in the courts. In fact, the U.S. Catholic bishops had joined dozens of Catholic organizations in suing the federal government over some of the administration’s key health care provisions. In particular, Health and Human Services (HHS) mandates were viewed as an attempt to coerce employers to pay for health care plan provisions assisting in female sterilization and contraceptives, including abortifacients. In addition, it was asserted that the ACA would exclude undocumented immigrants from participation in the proposed heath care exchanges. Thus, from the bishops’ point of view, both Catholic conscience and Catholic action was threatened. Early on in the bishops’ opposition to the Obama administration’s health care plans, the bishops determined that the core value in jeopardy was [End Page 369] “religious freedom.” The Church was particularly concerned about the state’s incursion upon its ability to promote, defend, and implement its religious doctrine, especially in the areas of marriage and family life.2 In February 2012, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) lamented: “Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.”3

“A Fortnight for Freedom”

On April 12, 2012, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued “Our First Most Cherished Liberty.” This document outlined the bishops’ concerns over religious liberty and called for “A Fortnight for Freedom,” that they designated as a two-week period of reflection and action, which commenced June 21 and continued through July 4, 2012. The bishops urged lay people in dioceses and parishes throughout the nation to participate in this event, calling upon “all the energies the Catholic community can muster” to defend religious liberty. They designated the Feast of Christ the King, which occurred later, as a day when all bishops and priests in the United States were to deliver a homily on religious freedom.4 In addition to objections to the HHS mandates in the implementation of the ACA, the bishops’ statement decried other attacks on religious liberty, including placing Catholic foster care and adoption services at risk by threatening support for those Catholic charities that refused to place children for adoption with same sex or unmarried opposite sex couples; impeding the work of preventing sex trafficking by requiring agencies like the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services to provide or refer clients for contraception and abortion services; and unduly restricting and sanctioning those who provided “charity” to undocumented workers, among other presumed government intrusions.5

In deciding to highlight the threats to religious freedom during an election year, the bishops may have recognized that such timing would increase the depth and breadth of public attention and potentially impact public discussion. In calling for “A Fortnight for Freedom,” the bishops prepared for the spotlight of public attention and seemed willing to stir up a good deal of controversy. This two-week campaign was designed to highlight [End Page 370] the threat to religious freedom in the United States and to galvanize simultaneously Catholic opposition to contraceptives. The dangers here were many, with both internal and external audiences. By the time the fortnight commenced on...

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