Perhaps not since the 1960s have spiritual bodies been so active in the spiritual front.
Local religious leaders have already taken sides in the campaign for the same-sex marriage ban going before voters in May. Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist of Charlotte and president of the state Baptist convention, is a key leader in the campaign for passage. Meanwhile, a group of area ministers and rabbis went to Washington, D.C., last spring to marry seven local gay couples.
Last week, a federal judge struck down California’s same-sex ban, and the Washington legislature approved a law recognizing same-sex unions. Many legal experts say the case is headed to the Supreme Court.
At the same time, Catholic leaders are locked in a furious battle with the Obama Administration over whether Catholic colleges and hospitals must include birth control in their employees’ health-insurance packages, as private employers are required to do.
“Catholic Identity Under Siege” says the headline in the current edition of the Catholic News Herald, which is published by the Charlotte Diocese.
Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic school in Gaston County, has sued to stop the government order, which critics say forces the organizations to violate a core Catholic belief that birth control is a sin.
A recent poll, however, showed that 98 percent of Catholic women in the U.S. have used contraception. And the government argues that the separation of church and state doesn’t allow religious groups operating in the public marketplace to discriminate against employees.
Friday, President Obama announced a compromise that would not require religious groups to provide coverage for contraception, sterilization or other services. Their employees who want those benefits would get them directly from insurers.
“Given the White House description of the revised rule, it both resolves the religious liberty concerns and respects the interests of Americans who would like to have these important health benefits,” says Melissa Rogers, director of religious and community Affairs at Wake Forest University.
