Although the White House appears to be wavering on its contraception mandate with an announcement expected later today, there are some indications the announced revision could still interfere with religious sensibilities, particularly Catholic institutions.
On Thursday’s “Hugh Hewitt” radio show, National Review columnist Mark Steyn, author of “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” said this interference blatantly goes against the Catholic Church’s doctrine and made the case that this is cause for “civil disobedience”.
“I think this is an issue where we will see I think whether so-called faith-based institutions are still faith-based,” Steyn said. “I would say that a lot of so-called Catholic colleges and Catholic hospitals are pretty residually Catholic. So this is really the ultimate test. … I think this is an outrage and I think this is definitely something for civil disobedience, for these institutions to say, ‘We will never comply with this law.’ … If you want to impose this on us as the president does, you’re going to wind up sending armed officials into our institutions to force us to comply with it because we will not do so. We cannot do so and remain Christians.”
Steyn likened President Barack Obama to 16th century monarch Henry VIII, who separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
“And by the way, this isn’t just for the institutions, because the idea that you would be granted exemptions if most of your clientele were Catholic — that would mean that when you checkin to a Catholic hospital, you would be required to provide the government with information as to how much of an observant Christian you were. …I mean that ought to be absolutely out … Barack Obama is effectively saying, ‘I’m Henry VIII and I’m proclaiming my own church that out-punches your church.’”