Churches have the right to impose their own moral code

I am writing in reference to a letter from Geri Jenson printed in the March 10 Cook County News-Herald. Though I didn’t agree with her, I found it a persuasive, well-written, and impassioned argument on the latest church/state controversy. I read it and moved on, but it keeps coming back to mind.

Her anecdote concerning the problems she had at a Catholic community hospital was fascinating, but it left many questions unanswered: Why was she giving birth and expecting a simultaneous sterilization surgery at a Catholic hospital? If she and her husband were unaware that this might be a problem, why didn’t her doctor know this and properly advise her? And finally, did she actually get the procedure done there and then?

At any rate, her argument doesn’t really make the case she thinks it does. She thinks the 1st amendment (and the mythical separation of church and state) is to keep the government from interfering with what goes on behind church doors and to keep the church from interfering with the rest of life. I don’t see it that way.

Religious schools, hospitals and charities are not exactly “civil” organizations (in the usual sense of the word) that can be pushed around by the state. It should be expected that these organizations would have people, rules, and procedures that are informed by the belief systems of the religions involved. The state has no right to demand they break their own moral code and should have had the foresight to know they won’t.

You want a separation of church and state? Then this would be a good place to start. Tell the state to back off or bring on the lions. Just to be clear, I’m totally in favor of the government supplying free contraception to any godless liberal who asks for it.

Daryl Popkes
Gunflint Trail