{"id":26840,"date":"2012-01-29T17:58:38","date_gmt":"2012-01-29T21:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/01\/obamas-breach-of-faith-over-co\/"},"modified":"2012-01-29T17:58:38","modified_gmt":"2012-01-29T21:58:38","slug":"obamas-breach-of-faith-over-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/01\/obamas-breach-of-faith-over-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s breach of faith over contraceptive ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr., is not a completely reliable Catholic intellectual, but I think we ought to pay attention to today’s opinion piece, “Obama’s breach of faith over contraceptive ruling<\/a>.” I don’t agree with all that Dionne posits, but it would be incorrect to dismiss the whole piece because he does have a point for us Catholics to pay close attention to.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

One of Barack Obama’s great attractions as a
\npresidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual
\nconcerns of religious believers. That is why it is so remarkable that he
\nutterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services
\nshould be treated under the new health care law.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
His administration mishandled
\nthis decision not once but twice. In the process, Obama threw his progressive
\nCatholic allies under the bus and strengthened the hand of those inside the
\nChurch who had originally sought to derail the health care law.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
This might not
\nbe so surprising if Obama had presented himself as a conventional secular
\nliberal. But he has always held himself to a more inclusive standard.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
His
\ndeservedly celebrated 2006 speech on religion and
\nAmerican public life<\/span><\/a> was a deeply sophisticated and carefully
\nbalanced effort to defend the rights of both believers and nonbelievers in a
\npluralistic republic.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Obama’s speech at Notre Dame’s
\ngraduation in 2009<\/span><\/a> was another tour de force. His visit to South
\nBend was highly controversial among right-wing Catholics. Yet his address
\ntemporarily silenced many of his critics because it showed an appreciation for
\nthe Catholic Church’s contributions to American life — particularly through its
\nvast array of social-service and educational institutions — and an instinctive
\nfeeling for Catholic sensibilities.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr., is not a completely reliable Catholic intellectual, but I think we ought to pay attention to today’s opinion piece, “Obama’s breach of faith over contraceptive ruling.” I don’t agree with all that Dionne posits, but it would be incorrect to dismiss the whole piece because he does have a … Continue reading Obama’s breach of faith over contraceptive ruling<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2142,1769],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}