Catholic Social Services

This article on the New York Times website, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13marriage.html, discusses how the Catholic Church is planning to cut social service programs if same sex marriage is allowed prevent same sex married couples to receive benefits.
The bill seems understanding to religion, because it wouldn’t force the churches to perform same-sex marriages. I think that it’s great that the Catholic church is trying to uphold what they think is right, but it looks like they are just trying to bully the politicians. Homelessness and health care have nothing to do with sexuality, so continuing their homeless shelters and hospitals shouldn’t really be a problem. For adoption, they could just allow straight couples to adopt and the same-sex couples can just go to another agency.
But I can also see why this Catholic charity is going all out, because the article mentions that this same charity had a problem in 2006 with a law that required their adoption agencies to allow same-sex couples to adopt. They should be able to practice their religion freely and the same-sex couples should just avoid this charity and go to a non-Catholic adoption agency. The charity is probably just sick and tired of all the politics; they just want to help people with a clear conscious. If they think a person is doing something wrong and feel that by helping that person, they are going against what they believe, they shouldn’t help the person. And I really don’t understand why same-sex couples would persist on going to these Catholic charities when there are a lot of other options available to them with people who are hopefully more understanding to their situation.

Religious Attire Ban Lifted

This article by the Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYBBKXT68dZ3b67tDQ4pVkbwVtIAD9C6KAGG2, discusses a bill that would repeal a 1923 ban in Oregon that prevents teachers from wearing religious attire.
I think that it’s awesome that Oregon is going to repeal the ban, but I still can’t believe that there are 2 other states that still have this ban in place. The article claims that the ban was put into place to keep Catholics from public schools, but does not go into further details. But the fact that this ban was created to segregate schools is very sad. The ACLU in Oregon is still against the ban and argues that students should be protected if the ban is repealed. The article does not expand on what kind of protection the ACLU is planning, but the article places this tidbit right after noting that the last time the ban was used was for a firing of a Sikh teacher for wearing a turban. I’m guessing the ACLU wants to protect students from teachers who will try to push their beliefs on students. I think that this repeal would make teachers look more favorably on the government. I think that it’s more likely a teacher would mention their religion and their discontent with government if they weren’t allowed to do something they wanted like wearing a necklace with David’s star.

Ban on Blasphemy

This article by the Associated Press, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iX2fakx508zGm4ff4XnCXYK260SwD9C2SQ401, discusses how Muslim countries are seeking to get a ban on blasphemy to prevent Islam from mockery.
I find it ironic that both sides of the ban are arguing for freedom. The main argument against the ban is the freedom of speech and the main argument for the ban is freedom of religion. It’s sad that most of the Muslim people that are supporting the ban did not really care for this “freedom of religion” until their prophet was made into a cartoon. Many religions like Christianity and Judaism are frequently mocked, but no one really complained. I haven’t heard any complaints about how people make fun of Scientology(even though it’s not really a religion, some people think it is)either, even though I’ve heard more jokes about Scientology than I do Islam.
The article also mentions how blasphemy laws have previously been used to “suppress dissidents.” If this is the case, this ban would also suppress the growth of new religions. Islam grew out of Protestantism, Protestantism grew out of Catholicism and Catholicism grew out of Judaism. If this ban is passed, it’s almost as if the Muslim people are going against their own roots.