Why the Catholic Contraception Controversy Is a Phony Battle

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Frankly, Mr. Milligan, the Obama Administration's compromise this past Friday regarding the federal contraception mandate permitting religious organizations to exclude themselves from offering or paying for birth control (with that responsibility passed on directly to the insurance companies) was fairly generous.
However, why did the religious exemption clause in the original mandate apply only to the actual houses of worship when it was issued on January 20th (last month)?
Nevertheless, the religious freedom/First Amendment issue was addressed this past Friday, and the new version of the Contraception mandate with it's expanded religious exemption gained the support of Catholic Charities and the Catholic Health Association.

JVJ of MD 4:19PM February 13, 2012

Government control of religion is only cheered by those with no working knowledge or no memory of history.

john1513 of TX 4:17PM February 13, 2012

Many of these Catholic and Baptist religious-affiliated institutions are self insured. So, their is no exemption. Nor is their an excemption for a Catholic (for profit) employer, who doesn't want to fund abortions.
This mandates clearly destroys our Constitutional freedom of religion.
Many Catholics are liberal enough to use birth control. If the are employed by a religious affiliated organization, they buy it themselves.
You will be hard pressed to find a Catholic or Baptist that supports abortion and this mandate, which forces their Church to pay for abortions.

Terry Magyar of OH 4:09PM February 13, 2012

"Still, it was a generous compromise."
It was no compromise at all since all it did was force the Catholic church to pay for it indirectly.
"It's an election year, so it's prime time for making hyperbolic and incendiary accusations that have little basis in fact."
So if Romney became president and, because of moral objections, his admin issues a ruling under ObamaCare that no insurance company is allowed to cover abortions you'll be OK with that?
Once you figure out that different people look at the same issue from different perspectives... AND that a news magazine should at least make an effort to present both, then your readership might actually increase.

Neuromancer of TX 3:44PM February 13, 2012

The Catholic Church is being FORCED to go against its conscience by providing service which it believes are immoral. That goes against its collective conscience. Perhaps, conscience and morality mean nothing to you, Ms. Mulligan.

Umbriaa of NJ 3:12PM February 13, 2012

If I was supreme dictator, I wouldn't give much thought to what people believe in, so long as they funded what I wanted them to fund. Directly or indirectly.
And if one group wanted to buck me on that, I'd just stick another group *directly* for the bill, which leaves that one dissident group with some public face but keeps that one dissident group *indirectly* funding what I wanted.
Then I'd go back and keep working on that one dissident group to better split it's internal allegiance, rewarding those loyal to me. That way I could go back later to that one group and double-tap them on the head for something else I wanted funded.
Fungibility of funds and funding. What a great concept. For supreme dictators, who always only have so many guns and thugs to cover a large area.
I figure I'll pull it off by 2020, becoming Supreme Dictator. And Susan Milligan will forget all about Obama to become one of my premier fourth-tier bootlickers.
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PS: Didn't know Catholics had Elders. Thought they had nuns, priests, bishops, and cardinals, etc.
PPS: What some US bishop or cardinal said. It's one thing for Catholics not to live up to the teachings of their faith. It's another for those very same Catholics to have someone come in from the outside to overrule the teachings of their faith.
Susan Milligan: "If nearly all Catholics use birth control, why on earth would they vote against a president who tried to make access to birth control easier?"
It's something called loyalty, which is exercised at the more-local level.
Maybe Susan Milligan also wonders why a married couple won't publically disagree with each other -- with one of the couple taking the side of an outsider third party. At least the smarter married couples!
AFTERWARDS, IN PRIVATE, just between the two of them, they may discuss the disagreement between them, and come to a resolution. At least the smarter married couples!

dom youngross of OH 1:47PM February 13, 2012

Susan Milligan hypothesizes, "Why the Catholic Contraception Controversy Is a Phony Battle."
As she will see, the thesis forming will be one of the major causes of Obama's demise in November!

Suzy Q. of CA 12:56PM February 13, 2012