At its core, the argument is simple. This man does not believe The Man should be permitted to infringe on his right to impose his Catholic beliefs and lifestyle on others. But the real world requires more logic and sophisticated thinking. And American values must trump special interest values, even if some demographics are absolutely convinced that God is on their side.
Not surprisingly, the president of the Catholic University of America is comprehensively pro-life. As a good Catholic man, John Garvey genuinely believes there is an all-powerful celestial founder and ruler of all existence that is profoundly saddened that the most powerful nation here on the highlight of His divine creation permits everything from the legal and widespread sale of condoms to the slaughter of living children, in extreme cases when they are nearly nine months old and almost ready to be born.
There is legitimate debate of the veracity of, for instance, the Biblical directive that "whoever does work on [Sunday] shall be put to death," but Garvey and many Catholics are very confident in the Lord's unspoken mandate denouncing all forms of birth control past the rhythm method.
Garvey wrote an editorial for the Washington Post, headlined "A federal intrusion on faith," protesting part of a recent piece of the Affordable Care Act, the controversial health care reform enacted by the Obama Administration which will soon require all health insurance providers and policies to include a number of recommended preventive services for women.
At present, it appears in August of 2012 these rules will go into effect. But before all the i's are dotted, and t's crossed, Garvey and many others from different religious communities are demanding exemption from certain specifics, and one in particular. Catholic University does not want to offer health insurance that will make a single female employee or student eligible to receive birth control.
"If we comply, as the law requires, we will be helping our students do things that we teach them, in our classes and in our sacraments, are sinful -- sometimes gravely so," Garvey wrote. "It seems to us that a proper respect for religious liberty would warrant an exemption for our university and other institutions like it."
There already are some exemptions from those controversial bits. In deference to those religious values Garvey spoke of, narrow exceptions have been carved out. Individual churches, for instance, may not be required to provide insurance supplying birth control and STD counseling. But those exceptions aren't nearly as extensive as some would like.
As Garvey wrote, those exceptions do not apply to "any organization that does not also employ and serve 'primarily persons who share the religious tenets of the organization.'" Which means a Catholic university or hospital hiring professors and doctors who aren't Catholic, for instance, still must abide by the new rules.
Garvey made an accurate point in his title how the "rules intrude on Catholic values," and his article is powerfully concluded: "It should not be the business of the federal government to force Catholic schools and other Catholic institutions into such a collective violation of our own conscientious beliefs."
But he's wrong. You can read the thousands of pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and I promise you, nowhere does it dictate that any woman is required to take birth control. But Garvey does want to make sure all Catholic institutions are permitted to force their own values on others. He does demand the federal government respect their Catholic right to tell all its employees, no matter what their individual religious faith, that they should not use birth control.
Fine, yes, there is an argument to be made that Catholic University will be paying modestly more for employee health care that allows those employees the option of intruding on Catholic values. That may be uncomfortable for some, but the alternative is to allow Catholic University to intrude on American values, and that un-American ideal should make everybody, of every faith, a lot more uncomfortable.
