Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson on Religious Liberty # 4 of 6

Supreme Knight, Carl A. Anderson on Religious Liberty # 4 of 6

In pursuit of the truth - www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Monday, May 21, 2012

Reference to the Address in # 1
“Earlier, the Obama Administration applied a similar standard to individual rights of conscience when it “rescinded most of a federal regulation that protected workers who refuse to perform services they find morally objectionable.”

“Healthcare workers now face the choice of holding onto their religious beliefs or their jobs. In other words, if the health care institution provide services contrary to the Catholic moral teaching, Catholic doctors and nurses need not apply. And so, we see a new government intolerance of religion.

“Perhaps this is why Cardinal Francis George has referred to the Obama Administration as “the most secularist administration I think we have ever had in this country.”

“During his visit to Washington Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that: “Christians are easily tempted to conform themselves to the spirit of this age.” The spirit of our age is profoundly secular.

“And secularism accepts religion - if it accepts it at all - only on its own terms. Under this view, religion is subordinated to the political interests of the secular state. And it is precisely this subordination of religion to the state that the First Amendment seeks to prevent.

“Let us be clear,: we value religious liberty not only because it protects our personal autonomy. We value religious liberty because of the good which religion brings into the life of the individual believer and into the life of our nation.

“Before he was elected pope, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger wrote that “neither embrace nor ghetto” can for the Church the problem of secular society. Instead, Cardinal Ratzinger counseled that we must constructively engage secularism.

“The question for us is, “How do we as Catholics go about doing this in the United States today?” Last year the Secretary of Health and Human Services told a NARAL luncheon, “ We are in a war.”

“I sincerely hope we can put away such partisan rhetoric. We do not need a government that sees itself at “war” with its own citizens. We should counsel a different approach. Awaiting execution in the Tower of London, St. Thomas More wrote a prayer which we have included in our Knights of Columbus prayer book.”..
George H. Kubeck,

The good news is that the eight page address by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on April 19th in Washington, D.C. can be accessed by the internet and Google. This will make it possible for any good reader to present this classic talk to the parish or Knight of Columbus Assembly. It is most appropriate for the fortnight of prayer beginning June 21st to July 4th in this or any other U.S. diocese.