Facing unprecedented federal threats to religious liberty following the Supreme Court’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, the Catholic archbishop of Washington is warning that the Obama administration shouldn’t tell the faithful how to practice their religion and charity.
On the eve of a visit to the White House by Pope Francis this month, Cardinal Donald William Wuerl forcefully put the administration on notice to drop any plans to punish religious institutions that oppose same-sex marriage.
“We really don’t think government should be telling us how we should be practicing our faith,” Wuerl said. “Religious freedom shouldn’t be determined for us by somebody else any more than people in the media would want freedom of speech to be determined by somebody else.”
During the debate over same-sex marriage, administration officials said a victory could result in the withdrawal of federal tax and other benefits to religious institutions and believers that refuse to comply with the decision. Churches have warned that the result could be ending charity, adoption and education efforts.
During court arguments, Justice Samuel Alito asked Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. if a win for same-sex marriage would affect the tax status of religious institutions.
“It’s certainly going to be an issue,” Verrilli replied. “I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito. It is — it is going to be an issue.”
Utah Sen. Mike Lee has introduced the “First Amendment Defense Act” to block any punishment. He told the Washington Examiner that it was “absolutely” helpful that Wuerl spoke out on religious liberty.
“What we’re finding is that people of many faiths and even people with no faith at all see the value of religious freedom,” the Republican said.
Wuerl said the fight with the administration goes back to the passage of Obamacare and the demand that all outlets, including religious groups, provide birth control benefits.
“Our objection primarily was the decision of the government to decide for us what constitutes religious faith and practice, what constitutes religious works that are not part of our faith and practice,” Wuerl said.
And that includes the types of charities that could be threatened by the administration. “We feel the Gospel mandates feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty … as much a part of our religious mandate as thou shall not kill,” the cardinal said.
Lee said it would be a travesty if religious institutions were forced out of charity because of their beliefs on marriage.
“We can’t throw it away and, in fact, the American people won’t allow it, they won’t tolerate it,” he said. “We’re not going to put up with a government that tramples on our religious beliefs.”
AFL-CIO’S TRUMKA HITS OBAMA FOR CAVING IN ON REGS
He’s an important leader who has to juggle dozens of issues with a cold professionalism, but get AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talking about workplace safety, and he can’t help but think of his dad, a former coal miner, who died of black lung disease.
“Here’s something that genuinely bothers me. Every day in this country 150 workers die from injuries received on the job or occupational health or disease,” he said. “They die quietly, like my dad who died from black lung.”
Six years into the Obama administration, he’s still waiting for new workplace regulations.
“For most of the first term, and the beginning of the second term, he was baited by Republicans talking about too many regulations. And he said, ‘I’ll show you.’ And so the regulations just stopped,” said the labor leader in a pre-Labor Day interview.
While he said the president has lately become “overtly more pro-worker,” he said time is short for new regulations on mines and issues such as silicosis, a lung disease. “If it doesn’t get done by the end of the administration, then it’s not likely to happen because the new president, if it were a Republican, would just whack all of those and we’d have to start all over again.”
INSIDER: ISIS ‘REHEARSED’ BEHEADINGS TO KEEP VICTIMS CALMS
A defector from the Islamic State said the barbaric beheadings were rehearsed on victims so they wouldn’t squirm during their murders.
The defector told the author of a new book on Islamic State atrocities that in addition to rehearsals, it was his job to put victims at ease.
In The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS, Regnery Publishing author Robert Spencer noted that the victims in the videos are surprisingly calm, leading some to speculate that hostages had been drugged first.
The unidentified defector explained that victims were put through mock executions and told that the whole scene was just for show and to warn Washington to stop attacking Syria.
“So they don’t worry. Always I say to them, ‘Don’t worry, doesn’t matter, nothing dangerous for you.’ But at the end I was sure [they would die],” the defector added.
This article appears in the Sept. 8 edition of the Washington Examiner magazine.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
