In Kansas, abortion is still legal. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that "the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects a woman's access to abortion." The court found that Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects "every person's right to personal autonomy—and this right enables a woman to make decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life, including the decision whether to continue a pregnancy."
Curious how any Catholic diocese can afford to fund this Christo-fascism given all their troubles with sexual predation and coverup. These as the LAST people to claim a moral high ground in our society. And while I know this will never happen, it's long past time to close this legislative loophole that allows such funding, or were going to see even more of this.
I'm not an expert on any of this but it's time to tax churches. We need an executive order or the next time Democrats have full control, time to pass legislation to tax churches. Enough is enough. It's bad enough that all these republicans are foisting their religious beliefs on the majority of us who don't agree, but the church can freely donate to this crap? How does the catholic church even have 250k to donate towards legislation? Tax them for everything. This is absolutely absurd. Either get your money out of politics or tax the hell out of them.
No religious organization should have any institutional input into civil law or legislation. No money, no lobbying no nothing. Each religion has teachings that suggest ways of being by its members. These individual members can vote as they wish, support who they wish and say what they want …. With their own voice and their own money. That is the only way, in a democracy, that religion should affect public life. It was this vision of republican government and separation of church and state that was envisioned by Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Rush and the majority of the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These founders lived only a short time after the bloody decades long religious wars of Europe and understood well the cost in lives and treasure of any entwinement between religion and government. How interesting that churches must use the power of the state to impose their will on the rest of us, and cannot thrive in the marketplace of ideas.
The main driver for making abortion illegal again is seldom if ever mentioned ...the Catholic Church. It's time we quit giving the Catholic Church a pass or benefit of the doubt. They've escaped scrutiny for too long.
It's no accident that there are 6 fundamentalist Catholics on the Robert's Extreme Court all of whom belong to hard right Catholic organizations like Opus Dei and Knights of Malta. Scalia belonged to Opus Dei.
Those 6 voted to require taxpayers to fund private religious schools. Many of those schools are Catholic. They also voted to allow government workers to establish religion in public schools in Kennedy v Bremerton School District.
Those 6 fundamentalist Catholics are on the Extreme Court because the person who's largely responsible for the packed Court has been insidiously engineering the judiciary under the radar for decades to codify Catholic theology into our constitution. Leonard Leo, who heads the Federalist Society, grooms and vets Federalist lawyers for judicial appointments including the Extreme Court. It was from his list that trump picked the 3 Catholic candidates that were confirmed to the Court. Leo is a hard right, fundamentalist Catholic himself.
These same 6 Catholic fundamentalists abolished legal abortion in keeping with Catholic theology. If one thinks the Catholic Church will stop it's misogynist campaign against women's rights by not going after those states where abortion is still legal then one is naive if not stupid. Moreover, according to Thomas' concurring opinion, contraception is next on the chopping block. The Catholic Church views contraception as a mortal sin equivalent to abortion.
The gop and Catholic Church work hand in hand. Both are hierarchical, paternalistic, misogynistic, authoritarian, undemocratic and ruled over by white males. Trump is the gop's Pope with their followers believing both infallible.
For those interested in a history of SCOTUS over the past several decades, including Leonard Leo's involvement, I highly recommend a series of speeches given in the Senate chamber by Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The series is called The Scheme and is very informative.....and infuriating. Kudos to Senator Whitehouse for contributing to the education of citizens, opening our eyes. He is continuing to add a speech each month. I've included the link; please listen.
Glad Jesus died so we could have our rights trampled upon by the Catholic Church. Also, it seems wrong that a ballot provision of this magnitude could be left to a primary election, but in a world where Catholic dioceses can throw money at anti-choice causes, what the hell do I know anyway?
OK, Derek Schmidt, Republican Party, Catholics, right-wing evangelicals, et al., we could have that.
Accurate sex education, with emphasis on personal responsibility, boundaries, and consent, starting *early*. Kids can be victims of molestation long before they would normally be sexually active.
Better education in general
Preventing child and partner abuse
Combating rape culture
Free contraception
National health care
Paid parental leave
Forgiving student loan debt
Raising the minimum wage
Better maternal health care, including mental health care
Support for families with special needs children
And all of those things would make the country better for everyone. Y'all on board with that?
Never a Christian group has done as much harm as good in the name ofJesus over centuries than the Roman Catholic church. I don't know how else to respond to their interference in the world over millennia not just centuries. This is just one more case
Judd, thanks for this. I am so hopeful about Michigan. I’m a native though I moved after college and have lived elsewhere longer than I lived there. My hope stems from the redness. Yes, the state voted for Biden and there is democratic leadership currently, but if you pluck the few blue areas, you will see a lot of red. In the past, George Romney was governor and Gerald Ford was senator, and of course the DeVos family has been and still is very influential. Hillsdale College is there. Other than in metro areas and college/university towns, the state has minimal diversity (I was 12 when I first saw a Black person in real life) and is mostly rural and not wealthy. With signatures from all 83 counties, I believe we’re seeing a sign that abortion access is being viewed also as a personal and family economic issue, which of course it is. As the dust settles around the SCOTUS ruling, I have hope that we’ll see storms in response.
Judd - how is this legal? MOST parishioners believe they are donating for charitable purposes or to help support the parish’s expenses. Non profits - ESPECIALLY churches - should not be allowed to fund political parties or issues. It has to violate their separation of church and state status? Am I right? What am I missing?
Tax the Catholic Church now. TAX. IT. NOW.
If you want to be a political actor, you should get treated (and taxed) like one.
Curious how any Catholic diocese can afford to fund this Christo-fascism given all their troubles with sexual predation and coverup. These as the LAST people to claim a moral high ground in our society. And while I know this will never happen, it's long past time to close this legislative loophole that allows such funding, or were going to see even more of this.
It’s time to put religion back in the churches, where it belongs. Tax the hell out of any church involved in elections.
I'm not an expert on any of this but it's time to tax churches. We need an executive order or the next time Democrats have full control, time to pass legislation to tax churches. Enough is enough. It's bad enough that all these republicans are foisting their religious beliefs on the majority of us who don't agree, but the church can freely donate to this crap? How does the catholic church even have 250k to donate towards legislation? Tax them for everything. This is absolutely absurd. Either get your money out of politics or tax the hell out of them.
No religious organization should have any institutional input into civil law or legislation. No money, no lobbying no nothing. Each religion has teachings that suggest ways of being by its members. These individual members can vote as they wish, support who they wish and say what they want …. With their own voice and their own money. That is the only way, in a democracy, that religion should affect public life. It was this vision of republican government and separation of church and state that was envisioned by Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Rush and the majority of the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These founders lived only a short time after the bloody decades long religious wars of Europe and understood well the cost in lives and treasure of any entwinement between religion and government. How interesting that churches must use the power of the state to impose their will on the rest of us, and cannot thrive in the marketplace of ideas.
Just a continuation of the sordid history of the Catholic Church through out the ages.
The main driver for making abortion illegal again is seldom if ever mentioned ...the Catholic Church. It's time we quit giving the Catholic Church a pass or benefit of the doubt. They've escaped scrutiny for too long.
It's no accident that there are 6 fundamentalist Catholics on the Robert's Extreme Court all of whom belong to hard right Catholic organizations like Opus Dei and Knights of Malta. Scalia belonged to Opus Dei.
Those 6 voted to require taxpayers to fund private religious schools. Many of those schools are Catholic. They also voted to allow government workers to establish religion in public schools in Kennedy v Bremerton School District.
Those 6 fundamentalist Catholics are on the Extreme Court because the person who's largely responsible for the packed Court has been insidiously engineering the judiciary under the radar for decades to codify Catholic theology into our constitution. Leonard Leo, who heads the Federalist Society, grooms and vets Federalist lawyers for judicial appointments including the Extreme Court. It was from his list that trump picked the 3 Catholic candidates that were confirmed to the Court. Leo is a hard right, fundamentalist Catholic himself.
These same 6 Catholic fundamentalists abolished legal abortion in keeping with Catholic theology. If one thinks the Catholic Church will stop it's misogynist campaign against women's rights by not going after those states where abortion is still legal then one is naive if not stupid. Moreover, according to Thomas' concurring opinion, contraception is next on the chopping block. The Catholic Church views contraception as a mortal sin equivalent to abortion.
The gop and Catholic Church work hand in hand. Both are hierarchical, paternalistic, misogynistic, authoritarian, undemocratic and ruled over by white males. Trump is the gop's Pope with their followers believing both infallible.
For those interested in a history of SCOTUS over the past several decades, including Leonard Leo's involvement, I highly recommend a series of speeches given in the Senate chamber by Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The series is called The Scheme and is very informative.....and infuriating. Kudos to Senator Whitehouse for contributing to the education of citizens, opening our eyes. He is continuing to add a speech each month. I've included the link; please listen.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sheldon+whitehouse+the+scheme
Judd, thank you for educating us, too. Your reporting is invaluable!
This is a better link to use:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyg5hj7I21i1Aqcaym9TRFrpWjPN9_ms
Thanks, I hadn’t seen the Sheldon Whitehouse series on The Scheme before! It’s fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!
Can’t agree with you enough!
Let the Catholics minister to Catholics, and leave the rest of us alone. They have enough problems in their own house.
Glad Jesus died so we could have our rights trampled upon by the Catholic Church. Also, it seems wrong that a ballot provision of this magnitude could be left to a primary election, but in a world where Catholic dioceses can throw money at anti-choice causes, what the hell do I know anyway?
“a future with less abortion.”
OK, Derek Schmidt, Republican Party, Catholics, right-wing evangelicals, et al., we could have that.
Accurate sex education, with emphasis on personal responsibility, boundaries, and consent, starting *early*. Kids can be victims of molestation long before they would normally be sexually active.
Better education in general
Preventing child and partner abuse
Combating rape culture
Free contraception
National health care
Paid parental leave
Forgiving student loan debt
Raising the minimum wage
Better maternal health care, including mental health care
Support for families with special needs children
And all of those things would make the country better for everyone. Y'all on board with that?
Didn't think so.
Thanks for this Mr. Legum and Ms. Crosby!
In essence, the 6 fundamentalist Catholics on the Extreme Court are codifying Catholic theology into our system of laws.
Excellent coverage!
Never a Christian group has done as much harm as good in the name ofJesus over centuries than the Roman Catholic church. I don't know how else to respond to their interference in the world over millennia not just centuries. This is just one more case
Judd, thanks for this. I am so hopeful about Michigan. I’m a native though I moved after college and have lived elsewhere longer than I lived there. My hope stems from the redness. Yes, the state voted for Biden and there is democratic leadership currently, but if you pluck the few blue areas, you will see a lot of red. In the past, George Romney was governor and Gerald Ford was senator, and of course the DeVos family has been and still is very influential. Hillsdale College is there. Other than in metro areas and college/university towns, the state has minimal diversity (I was 12 when I first saw a Black person in real life) and is mostly rural and not wealthy. With signatures from all 83 counties, I believe we’re seeing a sign that abortion access is being viewed also as a personal and family economic issue, which of course it is. As the dust settles around the SCOTUS ruling, I have hope that we’ll see storms in response.
Judd - how is this legal? MOST parishioners believe they are donating for charitable purposes or to help support the parish’s expenses. Non profits - ESPECIALLY churches - should not be allowed to fund political parties or issues. It has to violate their separation of church and state status? Am I right? What am I missing?
Imagine if the Catholic Church did something truly charitable with all that money, like
FEED THE HUNGRY!