Pope Francis is the Catholic Church’s Obama – God help us
Nov. 30, 2013: Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter's Basilica to lead a Vesper prayer at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By Adam Shaw Published December 04, 2013 FoxNews.com
Pope Francis is undergoing a popularity surge comparable to the way Barack Obama was greeted by the world in 2008. And just as President Obama has been a disappointment for America, Pope Francis will prove a disaster for the Catholic Church.
My fellow Catholics should be suspicious when bastions of anti-Catholicism in the left-wing media are in love with him.
Much is being made of his ‘compassion’ and ‘humility,’ but kissing babies and hugging the sick is nothing new. Every pope in recent memory has done the same, yet only now are the media paying attention. Benedict XVI and John Paul II refused to kowtow to the liberal agenda, and so such displays of tenderness were under-covered.
But Francis is beating a retreat for the Catholic Church, and making sure its controversial doctrines are whispered, not yelled – no wonder the New York Times is in love.
Just like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes to apologize for the Catholic Church, thinking that the Church is at its best when it is passive and not offending anyone’s sensibilities.
In his interviews with those in the left-wing media he seeks to impress, Francis has said that the Church needs to stop being ‘obsessed’ with abortion and gay marriage, and instead of seeking to convert people, “we need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.”
This softly-softly approach of not making a fuss has been tried before, and failed. The Second Vatican Council of the 1960’s aimed to “open the windows” of the Church to the modern world by doing just this.
The result was the Catholic version of New Coke. Across the West where the effects were felt, seminaries and convents emptied, church attendance plummeted, and adherence to Church doctrine diminished.
John Paul II and Benedict XVI worked hard to turn this trend around, but now Pope Francis wants the bad old days to resume.
Proof of this is Francis’ aforementioned statement of the Church being obsessed with controversial issues and the need to rebalance by talking about it less.
That Francis didn’t see that this would be translated into headlines of “Pope tells Catholics to shut up about things that offend Sandra Fluke” by every left-wing media outlet shows a terrifying naivety.
Nor do his comments reflect reality.
For years, the majority of priests didn't dare cover controversial topics in their homilies in fear of getting angry letters from pick-and-choose Catholics outraged that their pastor dared to say something out of line with the Democratic Party.
Most parishioners therefore haven’t heard the Church’s argument on controversial topics. Consequently, usage of contraception is only slightly lower in Catholics than in the general population, and support of gay marriage is actually higher in Catholics than the general population. Perhaps talking about it even less isn’t the answer?
In trying to please the media and the modern world, Francis mistakes their glee for respect. Just like Obama thought he’d won over Putin by promising a reset, Francis thinks by talking vacuously about the poor, he will be respected. And it is vacuous -- the pontiff recently asked why it’s news that the stock market drops but not when an old person dies. When your leader is asking, “Why isn’t the newspaper a laundry list of obituaries?” you know you elected the wrong guy.
What effect is this having? For all we’re being told about how ‘disenfranchised’ Catholics are being brought back by Francis ‘reaching out,’ a recent Pew Research study showed that in America, the number of people who identify as Catholic has actually decreased. Lesson: rubbing the egos of Church-hating left-wingers doesn’t make more Catholics, it just makes the Church less respected.
Francis not only panders to enemies and professional grievance mongers, but also attacks his allies. Just as Obama snubs Britain and Israel, Pope Francis swipes at practicing Catholics.
So not only has he insulted, and severely damaged the work of, pro-life and pro-marriage groups with his comments, he has also gone on the attack, dismissing Catholics who attend the older rites in Latin as ‘ideologizing’ and being guilty of ‘exploitation.’ Apparently “Who am I to judge?” doesn’t apply here.
On world matters, Francis’ statements are embarrassing. About communism, a destructive ideology that slaughtered millions of Catholics, he said:
“Learning about it through a courageous and honest person was helpful. I realized…an aspect of the social, which I then found in the social doctrine of the Church."
Not such kind words for the free market, however. In his recent apostolic exhortation he slammed unfettered capitalism, calling it ‘a new tyranny.’
Apart from the fact that there is no major nation practicing unfettered capitalism (like Obama, Francis loves attacking straw men) there is more real tyranny in socialist cesspools like Francis’ home of Argentina than in places where capitalism is predominant.
In the document he rejects the free market and calls for governments to overhaul financial systems so they attack inequality. In doing so he shows himself painfully misguided on economics, failing to see that free markets have consistently lifted the poor out of poverty, while socialism merely entrenches them in it, or kills them outright.
Like Obama, Francis is unable to see the problems that are really endangering his people. Like Obama he mistakes the faithful for the enemy, the enemy for his friend, condescension for respect, socialism for justice and capitalism for tyranny.
As a Catholic, I do hope Francis’ papacy is a successful one, but from his first months he seems hell-bent on a path to undo the great work of Benedict XVI and John Paul II, and to repeat critical mistakes of the past.
Adam Shaw is a News Editor for FoxNews.com and writes about Anglo-American and Catholic issues.
Gay teacher fired after applying for marriage license
A gay marriage supporter holds up a flag during a rally for gay marriage, on June 26, 2013, on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Matt Slocum/AP
By Clare Kim 12/09/13 02:15 PM—Updated 12/10/13 12:13 AM
A high-school teacher at a suburban Philadelphia Catholic high school has been fired after applying for a marriage license in New Jersey with his partner of 12 years.
Michael Griffin, who taught Spanish and French at Holy Ghost Preparatory Schol in Bensalem, PA. and is also an alumnus of the high school, was told his marriage license “contradicts the terms of his teaching contract,” as stated in a statement from the school.
“I applied for a marriage license since NJ now has marriage equality,” the 35-year-old educator wrote in a Facebook post [ https://www.facebook.com/michael.griffin.33865854/posts/10100301830995309 ]. “After 12 years together I was excited to finally be able to marry my partner. Because of that, I was fired from Holy Ghost Preparatory School today. I am an alumnus of the school and have taught there for 12 years. I feel hurt, saddened, betrayed and except for this post, am at a loss for words.”
In an email sent on Dec. 3, Griffin informed Principal Jeffrey Danilak of his decision to apply for a marriage license in their home state of New Jersey after a state judge ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey [ http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/09/nj_superior_court_gay_marriage_ruling.html ] in late September. The judge ordered state officials to begin officiating same-sex marriages on Oct. 21.
On Friday, President Fr. James McCloskey and Danilak terminated Griffin’s contract and told him the decision was effective immediately.
The school’s 87-page handbook includes the Teacher’s Code of Conduct which Griffin believes was the clause used for Griffin’s termination.
“Although the school welcomes teachers from other denominations and recognizes their rights to religious freedom, as employees of a Catholic institution, all teachers are expected to uphold lifestyles compatible with the moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church,” the handbook states.
Griffin told msnbc.com he was aware of the provision but he was still shocked by the school’s decision. “My partner came to school functions with me and a school administrator attended the ceremony after our civil union in 2008,” Griffin said in a phone conversation. “I even asked the president if it’d be ok to bring him to a holiday party at his home very early on in my teaching career.”
“There were plenty of opportunities for the school to know about my relationship,” he said.
“I don’t think I did anything brave. I had a domestic partnership, a civil union and the marriage license was a formality. We’ve done this twice before and I just went to fill out some paperwork.”
Holy Ghost’s decision is currently legal under Pennsylvania state law as the state has not passed anti-discrimination laws for sexual orientation. While Democrats have proposed a House bill that would include clauses protecting sexual orientation, Republican leaders have stalled the bill, arguing that Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, a Catholic himself, would not sign it.
“What the school thinks they did was legal. It certainly doesn’t feel legal,” said Griffin.
But Griffin said he is focused on moving forward and wants his students to know that he will continue to live his life as a moral person.
“Holy Ghost helped form me to be the person that I am today,” he wrote on Facebook Saturday. “Even though I am no longer employed there, I wanted to share their mission and philosophy, because I feel like I have tried to make it my life’s philosophy as best I can, even now. I am trying to move forward with a peaceful heart and wish nothing but the best to my colleagues and students who mean the world to me.”
Video [embedded] The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, 12/9/13, 11:18 PM ET Teacher fired over gay marriage tells his story
Rights group defends fired gay New Jersey teacher Catholic school fired man after he announced plans to marry gay partner. December 10, 2013 [...] Sharon Groves, director of the HRC's Religion and Faith Program, called Griffin's firing "part of a disturbing trend." She said 15 teachers have been fired from Catholic schools because of their sexual orientation in the past two years. [...] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/10/rights-group-defends-fired-gay-nj-teacher/3949551/ [with comments]
When Catholic schools fire gay teachers, laity push back Ken Bencomo, 45, right, and his partner of 10 years, Christopher Persky, 32, left, both of Rancho Cucamonga, get married at the San Bernardino County Hall of Records in San Bernardino on July 1, 2013. Bencomo was fired from his teaching position at a St. Lucy’s Catholic School days after he married his fiance in this San Bernardino civil ceremony. Oct 7, 2013 http://www.religionnews.com/2013/10/07/laity-push-back-catholic-schools-fire-gay-teachers/ [with comments]
In State Of The Nation Address, Putin Defends Anti-Gay Law
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers an annual speech to the nation and members of State Duma and Council of the Federation in the Grand Kremlin Palace on December 12, 2013 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA 12/12/13 06:15 AM ET EST
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin used his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday to defend conservative values, referring obliquely to his government's anti-gay stance as he chided the West for treating "good and evil" equally.
Russia has faced Western criticism over a law banning "propaganda of non-traditional relations," which gay rights groups say has given a green light to harassment and intimidation. The law has prompted activists across the world to demand a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
In his 70-minute televised speech from an ornate Kremlin hall, Putin pledged to defend traditional family values, which he said were the foundation of Russia's greatness and a bulwark against "so-called tolerance — genderless and infertile."
He lamented the "review of norms of morality" going on in many other countries.
"This destruction of traditional values from above not only entails negative consequences for society, but is also inherently anti-democratic because it is based on an abstract notion and runs counter to the will of the majority of people," Putin said.
Quoting early 20th-century Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, the president said conservatism does not stop society from progressing but "prevents it from falling backward into chaotic darkness and the state of primitive man."
This statement was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience, which was comprised of lawmakers, judges, religious leaders and federal and regional officials.
Putin is believed to be a devout Christian, but it is only in recent years that he has taken a stand to promote conservative values and the Russian Orthodox Church as he seeks to consolidate his support base.
"I don't want my children thinking that being a faggot is normal," he continued. "This is gay fascism! If a man can not choose an appropriate person of the opposite sex for reproduction -- that is a clear sign of mental abnormality, then he needs to be deprived of that right to choose."
"The meaning was rendered correctly," he said, per The Guardian. "Everyone has the right to express their opinions."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists spoke out against Okhlobystin. Nikolay Alexeyev, the leader of Moscow's gay community, told radio station RSN the actor was "inciting hatred and enmity toward a social group," according to The Hollywood Reporter. He said the actor could be denied visas to "civilized countries" because of this.
At issue is Section 377 of India’s Penal Code barring “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” a holdover from British colonial law dating back to 1861. In practice, this law had largely been used by police to threaten and blackmail gays, lesbians and transgender people.
Following the ruling, India’s crimes bureau stated ominously that it will begin compiling crime statistics under Section 377 as early as next year. Violation of the law is punishable by a fine and up to 10 years imprisonment.
Gay-rights supporters took to the streets in New Delhi in protest, vowing to continue their fight for equal rights and dignity under the law. Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, roundly condemned the Supreme Court decision.
In its 2009 ruling, the Delhi High Court said Section 377 violated the guarantees of equality and privacy in the country’s Constitution. The Supreme Court disagreed. Writing for the court, Justice Ganpat Singh Singhvi threw the issue to lawmakers, stating that Parliament was “free to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 I.P.C. from the statute book or amend the same as per the suggestion made by the attorney general.”
The court’s statement inviting the Legislature to amend the law is disingenuous. Given the fractious nature of India’s Parliament, the conservative views of many of its members, and the political stakes in the run-up to general elections next spring, the Legislature is unlikely to take up this issue on its own.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh now has an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy of progress before his government steps down next spring. His cabinet should act immediately to seek a repeal of Section 377. This 1861 law has no place in a 21st-century democracy.
Fox's Favorite Right-Wing Legal Group Applauds India's Ban On Gay Sex
LUKE BRINKER December 12, 2013 3:17 PM EST
A senior attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a far-right legal organization beloved by Fox News personalities, cheered India's Supreme Court for reinstating that country's ban on gay sex, calling the decision a model for the United States. ADF's support for the decision came a week after Fox host Bill O'Reilly praised the group on-air.
"When given the same choice the Supreme Court of the United States had in Lawrence vs. Texas, the Indian Court did the right thing," says Bull, which was choose to "protect society at large rather than give in to a vocal minority of homosexual advocates."
The net effect is to protect the integrity of the family and by extension to protect traditional marriage.
In the Texas case, the state's high court struck down sodomy laws in a 6-3 decision that affected similar laws in other states.
The Texas case "laid the groundwork for the invalidation of traditional marriage by a number of courts subsequent to that," the attorney explains.
The Indian Supreme Court saw what had happened there "and was wise enough not to want to go down that road."
"America needs to take note that a country of 1.2 billion people has rejected the road towards same-sex marriage, and understood that these kinds of bad decisions in the long run will harm society," he adds.
With the ADF giving its full-throated backing to the Indian court ruling and urging the U.S. to "take note" of the development, the organization has again demonstrated that its claims of "defending freedom" are little more than an Orwellian fraud. The question is whether Fox will continue to play along; and based on its track record, it seems the answer is yes.
"I was a tomboy growing up. I did a lot of boy things," Svenson said. "I'm lucky someone didn't try to tell me I should be a boy."
Svenson went on to say that she would like to start her own school where laws protecting the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender students wouldn't apply, The Denver Post reports.
On her district bio page, Svenson describes herself [ http://www.deltaschools.com/school-board-biographies.php ] as the founder of an evangelical Christian ministry in northern India and volunteer teaches at a local Sunday School and Bible camp:
Kathy Svenson (2015)
Kathy Svenson was elected to the Board in 2011 from Delta District 1 for a 4-year term. Kathy has been widowed twice (both from cancer) and feels that she has perhaps acquired enough wisdom in her 71 years to help guide the community. After three years at the University of Colorado, she was excused after having lost interest when an Education professor agreed with her that the course he was teaching - Psychology of Education - "went against all common sense!"
From that time on, she let life educate her. She had already entered the workforce at age 16 as a trained Nurse Aide. After university, she learned several other technical skills - welding, care for mentally challenged, billboard sign painting and horsemanship. But it was during waitressing where she met her husband (a WWII P-40 pilot, self-taught from 5th Grade). He taught her to fly and build light aircraft. In 40 years together, they designed and built several experimental aircrafts, eight homes and an Olympic-sized covered riding arena with their own hands. They incorporated both solar and wind power, animal husbandry, gardening, etc., while living off-the-land.
At the same time, Kathy home-schooled their only daughter seven of her first eight years. Leanna became an acclaimed artist, horse riding/training champion and has gone on to be awarded both Master's and Doctorate degrees. Fifteen years ago, she founded and now directs an ongoing Christian ministry in North India (TellASIA) where she established a 30-child children's home while also teaching leadership skills to indigenous Christians who have planted thousands of village churches! She is currently funding education to 23,000 children and has purchased acreage to build 100-child children’s home and a school for 400!
Kathy enjoys volunteer teaching in the Delta community - Basic Plumbing to House of Promise girls, Royal Rangers at church, Reality Ranch Bible Camp, Vacation Liberty School, a substitute for Sunday School classes, helped at the Dream Catchers Handicapped Riding facility, Vision approved for Beginning Riding and now also teaches sewing.
Kathy is proud of the influence that she had on her daughter's life and education, and looks forward to begin enabling other children to become leaders.
Messages left for Svenson about her statements were not immediately returned.
"One Colorado supports all transgender and gender non-conforming students being honest about who they are," said Jon Monteith, Communications Director of the state's leading LGBT advocacy group One Colorado, to The Huffington Post, "and that’s why we are committed to serving as a resource for educators, school staff and administrators across our state as they work to make our schools safer for all Colorado youth."
KREX-TV in Grand Junction, Colo. was the first to report on Svenson's remarks about transgender students during an October school board meeting (Listen to audio of Svenson's comments [embedded] above or watch KREX-TV's interview with her [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66LoC4bApM (embedded; next)] below):
"I would like to pass out something that shows people what is going on in the rest of the country," Svenson said at the school board meeting. "Massachusetts and California have passed laws relating to calling a student, irrespective of his biological gender, letting him perform as the gender he thinks he is, or she is. I just want to emphasize: not in this district. Not until the plumbing's changed. There would have to be castration in order to pass something like that around here."
Other Delta County school officials have said that they do not agree with Svenson's point of view on the issue and that the school district would never discriminate against any students.
Back in June, Colorado's Civil Rights Division ruled in favor of a transgender students having the right to use the restroom for the gender that they identify as [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/coy-mathis_n_3488306.html ]. The ruling involved the case of 6-year-old Coy Mathis, a suburban Colorado Springs girl who was prevented from using the girls' restroom at her school by school district officials.
Agema, a Michigan member of the RNC, stood by remarks attributed to him at the Republican event last week, chastising a Herald-Palladium reporter for "twisting my speech far out of context."
Below, a transcript of the remarks, in which Agema denounces gay marriage, and suggests that his former gay colleagues at American Airlines took advantage of their health care coverage:
I stand for traditional marriage, not homosexual ones. The family unit is the basic unit in society. When you tear the family apart, you tear the country apart.
I worked with these individuals for almost 30 years at American. I know what they do. I know [inaudible] American Airlines with San Francisco said, "We could not land in San Francisco and do business with American Airlines unless we paid same-sex unmarried benefits."
...
I'm a flight attendant, you have AIDS, you come to me and say, "Tell them I'm your lover for the last six months." You get on the health care. American Airlines spends $400,000 before you die of AIDS. And he goes on to the next, and the next, and that's what was happening.
Folks, they want free medical because they're dying between 38 and 44 years old ... So to me, it's a moral issue. It's a Biblical issue. Traditional marriage is where it should be and that is in our platform. So people that are opposed to me that issue within our party are wrong.
In an email to supporters after the newspaper's original article, Agema called out Herald-Palladium reporter Louise Wrege.
"A journalist was in the audience and wrote a news article that twisted my speech far out of context," Agema said in the email.
The Herald-Palladium did admit to one "distortion" in the original story. Wrege reported Agema said gay individuals are dying between the ages of 30 and 44, when he actually said they're dying between ages 38 and 44.
RNC rebranding takes another step backwards Two women who are married to each other react to the news that a case that could possibly have overturned Michigan's ban on same-sex marriages will go to trial instead of an immediate ruling, at the U.S. Courthouse October 16, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. 12/11/13 http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rnc-rebranding-takes-another-step-backwards [with comments]
Kat Cooper, LGBT Advocate, Receives Threatening Letter
By James Nichols Posted: 12/04/2013 1:25 pm EST
Earlier this year, we brought you the heartbreaking story of police detective Kat Cooper, whose family was asked to leave their Tennessee church after 60 years [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/tennessee-church-lesbian-daughter_n_3795012.html ] because Cooper fought to pass legislation that provided benefits to same-sex couples in the town where she worked.
And, sadly, it doesn't seem like things are getting better for Cooper.
"I think the individual who wrote the letter is pitiful, and it is very sad for countless reasons," Cooper posted on her Facebook. "It's not even necessary for me to state more. Nonetheless, it is a clear depiction of how hate and ignorance fuels violence and discrimination. Something we all need to be highly aware of at this time."
Keep your chin up Kat -- we're proud of and grateful for the work you're doing!
Planting Peace Launches 'Uganda Underground' Safe-Housing Initiative For LGBT Community
Planting Peace
By James Nichols Posted: 12/12/2013 5:13 pm EST | Updated: 12/13/2013 10:15 am EST
Planting Peace, the organization that brought you the Equality House [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/28/drag-down-bigotry_n_4170499.html ] across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church compound, has embarked on a new initiative that aims to ensure the safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals in Uganda.
Called "Uganda Underground [ http://plantingpeace.org/our-work/uganda-underground/ ]," the project is a safe-housing initiative that seeks to provide shelter and refuge for those attempting to protect themselves from the nation's pervasive anti-LGBT sentiment. The organization's goal is to "create safe places that serve as starting places for those who have been robbed of their dignity and are seeking to start their lives again in Uganda."
"While in Uganda I became friends with one of the individuals outed in the papers," Planting Peace Director of Operations Davis Hammet told The Huffington Post. "He told me how people immediately began recognizing him and he had to rush into hiding, and for several months he had to remain completely cut off from society in fear for his life. Even though this was a few years ago, many parts of Kampala are still too dangerous for him to be."
Interested in helping Planting Peace assist the victims of extreme homophobia in Uganda through the "Uganda Underground" safe-housing project? Click here [ http://www.plantingpeace.org/ ] to visit their website and make a donation.
Pentecostal pastors in Africa push prayer, not drugs, for people with HIV
Some church pastors have invited infected people to prayers such as this one and pronounced healing for them, only for the HIV-positive person to get worse or even die. RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili
HIV-positive clergy for Christian and Muslim faiths who are members of the INERELA+ Kenya chapter share a light moment at one of their meetings. The clergy believe that HIV drugs are God’s miracles to the people. RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili
Fredrick Nzwili | Dec 4, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) At prayer healing services in some Pentecostal churches, pastors invite people infected with HIV to come forward for a public healing, after which they burn the person’s anti-retroviral medications and declare the person cured.
The “cure” is not free, and some people say they shell out their life savings to receive a miracle blessing and quit taking the drugs.
“I believe people can be healed of all kinds of sickness, including HIV, through prayers,” said Pastor Joseph Maina of Agmo Prayer Mountain, a Pentecostal church on the outskirts of Nairobi. “We usually guide them. We don’t ask for money, but we ask them to leave some seed money that they please.”
But the controversial ceremonies are raising red flags as believers’ conditions worsen, and a debate has opened over whether science or religion should take the lead in the fight against the AIDS epidemic.
The issue is not new for African societies that have grappled with similar matters, such as whether condoms can prevent transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.
Some 6.3 million people are receiving anti-retroviral drugs in hospitals and clinics across eastern and southern Africa. The prayer healings are especially worrisome because people who quit treatment may become resistant to the drugs.
“We (clergy) must demonstrate leadership in this area,” said Jane Ng’ang’a, who coordinates the Kenya chapter of INERELA+, an interfaith network of religious leaders living with HIV. “We should be in the forefront, encouraging adherence to the medicines, as we offer psychological and mental support to those infected and affected.”
Officials with INERELA+, an international organization, said that in Nairobi alone, an average of 10 people a month fall victim to such pastors. Countrywide, the organization has recorded 2,000 such cases. When their health worsens, people seek help restarting the medicines.
Margaret Lavonga attended a healing prayer service several years ago. She said she paid money for a prayer cure and nearly ended up dead after the pastor told her and others to stop taking their medicines.
“We were very desperate after realizing we had been infected as young women,” she said.
At the church, she was asked to pay the equivalent of $12 to be accepted for the healing ceremony and $24 at the end of the ceremony. The pastor then confiscated her drugs and those of four others and set them ablaze. The group was asked to undergo a test at a certain clinic in Nairobi, where they were all declared cured.
“We had joined him for crusades around Nairobi slums, telling the people how wonderful the pastor’s miracles were,” she added. “I was upbeat, but after two weeks I started falling sick. When I was tested, the virus was still in me and had multiplied since I was not taking the drugs.”
Four of those who had received the alleged prayer cure died within a month, according to Lavonga, who remains bitter that the government has not taken any action to stop the practice.
“The pastors should be in jail,” she said.
Roserita Nyawera, another victim in western Kenya, said the desperation among people living with HIV and their fear of stigma and family rejection make it easy for them to accept offers for a cure.
“When you are told there is an easier option, you want them (drugs) out of your life,” said Nyawera.
In Uganda, Gabriel Amori, coordinator of that country’s INERELA+ chapter, said Pentecostal church pastors often tell people that a lack of faith is the reason the prayer healing isn’t working.
“The patients do not actually get healed, but they try to believe they are to prove they have faith, even if there is no clinical proof,” he said.
The Rev. Adama Faye of the Lutheran Church in Senegal said prayers for miracle healing inflict serious damage not only on those who are victimized.
“We are concerned it is negating achievements against HIV and AIDS,” he said. “Governments should also keep close watch on those pastors who cheat people through the miracles.”
Beyond new state efforts to restrict women’s access to proper reproductive health care, another, if quieter, threat is posed by mergers between secular hospitals and Catholic hospitals operating under religious directives from the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops. These directives, which oppose abortions, inevitably collide with a hospital’s duty to provide care to pregnant women in medical distress. This tension lies at the heart of a federal lawsuit filed last week [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/us/lawsuit-challenges-anti-abortion-policies-at-catholic-hospitals.html ] by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The suit [ https://www.aclu.org/religion-belief-womens-rights/aclu-sues-bishops-behalf-pregnant-woman-denied-care-catholic-hospital ] was brought on behalf of a Michigan woman, Tamesha Means, who says she was subjected to substandard care at a Catholic hospital — the only hospital in her county — after her water broke at 18 weeks of pregnancy. Doctors in such circumstances typically induce labor or surgically remove the fetus to reduce the woman’s chances of infection. But according to the complaint, doctors acting in accordance with the bishops’ directives did not inform Ms. Means that her fetus had virtually no chance of surviving or that terminating her pregnancy was the safest treatment option.
Despite acute pain and bleeding, Ms. Means was sent home twice, and when she returned a third time with a fever from her untreated infection, she miscarried even as the paperwork was being prepared to discharge her again. The fetus died soon after.
The case has gained attention because Ms. Means is not suing the hospital for medical negligence but the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The A.C.L.U. is arguing, on her behalf, that having issued the mandates and made them conditions of hospital affiliation, the conference is responsible for “the unnecessary trauma and harm” that Ms. Means and “other pregnant women in similar situations have experienced at Catholic-sponsored hospitals.”
How the suit will play out is unclear, but it showcases an important issue. Catholic hospitals account for about 15 percent of the nation’s hospital beds and, in many communities, are the only hospital facilities available. Allowing religious doctrine to prevail over the need for competent emergency care and a woman’s right to complete and accurate information about her condition and treatment choices violates medical ethics and existing law.
The problem Ms. Means encountered is not unique or limited to her particular medical needs. In 2010, the Diocese of Phoenix punished a nun and stripped a hospital of its affiliation after doctors there performed an abortion to save a mother’s life.
In a statement last Friday, the president of the bishops’ group, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, said that the religious directives did not encourage or require substandard medical treatment. He also portrayed the case as an attack on religious freedom — the same unpersuasive argument the bishops are making against the new federal health care law’s requirement that all plans include contraception coverage.
The bishops are free to worship as they choose and advocate for their beliefs. But those beliefs should not shield the bishops from legal accountability when church-affiliated hospitals following their rules cause patients harm.
By Carol Howard Merritt Author, Pastor, Co-Host of God Complex Radio Posted: 12/17/2013 5:40 pm
I grew up along the beaches of Florida and couldn't get enough of that pounding on the sand. I swam against the tide and rolled with the force of the water. I loved the feeling of getting caught up in the turmoil of the waves until I didn't know which way was up.
But there was something I had to do before I could get to that shore. I often had to walk by a row of surfers, who would grade me. Standing with their lean, tan bodies, they looked me over and assigned me a number from one to ten, based on a few cuts of meat.
I went to school with most of them, so I could give them a big eye-rolling, undergirded with a sigh and a "seriously?" But the dreaded experience stuck with me. To this day, I wear a massive cover-up (it can also be used as a tent), until I get to the very edge of the water to shed it.
The sad thing is that women are not only reduced to their sexuality when they're on the shoreline. Even in our Christian theology, we have a terrible tendency to distill the complicated facets of a woman -- her intelligence, creativity, energy, talents, and fortitude -- into one aspect. We can make it all about sex.
When the early Christian theologian, St. Augustine, wrote On the Trinity [ http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130112.htm ], he tried to work out a conundrum. He wanted to figure out how women could be the image of God. He solved the puzzle by writing that when a woman is alone, then she is not in the image of God. It is only when she is joined with a man, when she is one flesh with him, she can be considered the image of God.
Of course, we cannot take our ideas of gender equality and try to compare them to a different time and culture. Augustine was born in 354 and we shouldn't judge him by our liberated standards. But, it is important to ask if we let Augustine's ideas seep into our current debates. Do we still do this? Do we reduce a woman's worth to her sexuality or her fertility?
It seems when we determine a woman's value based on whether she is sexually "pure," we do. In youth group, I was often told that if I went "too far" on a date, I would become "damaged goods." Like those surfers on the beach, the Christians around me were judging my worth solely on my sexuality.
Our current debates on birth control have the ability to reduce a woman to her sexuality as well. We know that contraception is good for the health of women. Birth control allows women to finish their education and be productive in the workforce. It keeps women and children out of poverty. Yet, Christians want to fight for a corporation's right to practice its faith by refusing to provide insurance coverage for contraception. The voices of politicians tell us that birth control is tearing at the moral fabric of our society and religious writers point to contraception as the reason for decline of Christianity.
When the only religious voice is fighting against contraception, we have the hazard of communicating to a generation of women that Christians don't care about their education, productivity, or empowerment. We highlight the brooding sense that Christians don't want women to be intelligent, working beings, but we want a woman's worth to be solely based on her sexuality.
Where is the other faith narrative about birth control? Where are the voices that remind us that women are made in the image of God, whether they are joined with a man or not? Can we loudly proclaim that the moral fabric of our society will be stronger if women are educated and productive? Can Christians affirm contraception's ability to lift women and children out of poverty? Can we begin to understand that access to birth control is a social justice issue?
As the Supreme Court gears up to hear whether for-profit corporations can act as individuals [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/us/justices-take-companies-cases-challenging-contraception-rule.html ], extending their personal rights to the practice of religion, the voices of Christians who affirm a woman's rights to full health care and contraception have been drowned out. May we stand up with women, with the loud proclamation that we care about women's health and empowerment, because women are fully made in the image of God.
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