Wages an unnecessary war on Catholics

pending an investigation by Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations.

One could argue that when 6,000 children in Philadelphia alone receive foster care, the church’s restrictions are stubbornly out of step. And, rather oddly, the church objects only to same-sex couples.

More to the point, I agree with legal expert Alan Dershowitz, who has said that society should always lean toward deciding in favor of religious liberty.

This case could eventually wind its way to the highest court. The Becket Fund is known to accept cases that have appellate value. Clearly, there’s more at stake than whether one gay couple should be able to insist that one religious-based foster-placement group assign them children. Sure, I think they should, assuming the couple is otherwise wellpositioned to help children who need not just shelter but a home.

But I’m not Catholic, nor do I share the church’s belief that same-sex marriage is a sin. And defunding CSS is no good answer. On a typical day, Philadelphia’s CSS serves on average more than 120 foster children and supervises about 100 homes, according to the lawsuit. In 2017, CSS worked with more 2,200 atrisk children.

That’s a lot of slack for other agencies to pick up, explaining why the city issued an emergency call in March for 300 new foster families. Threatening to cut ties with CSS in June, based solely on its religiously informed policy, seems like discrimination by any other name. And, yes, some would argue that CSS’ policy is discriminatory.

Whatever one’s personal beliefs, it’s clear that this case is about more than one gay couple or one obviously targeted religious group. It’s about freedom of conscience for everyone.

Given the immense good that CSS and other religious charities do, surely there is another way intelligent people in the City of Brotherly Love (and elsewhere) can resolve their differences.

The ultimate aim of secularists, of course, isn’t to place foster kids with gay couples or force devout bakers to create wedding cakes for gay weddings but to banish God from the village square. Lest you celebrate too soon, remember: The state is a soul-less, ruthless and insatiable machine, and its only purpose is to increase its power and subjugate its citizens for maximum efficiency.

Every time religious liberty is put to the test, freedom holds its breath.