Stand with the Catholics on this one

When the United States Constitution was written, some of the original 13 states opposed it because it did not contain protection of individual rights.

The first 10 amendments — known as the Bill of Rights — were added to address these concerns. Once that was done, the Constitution was ratified by 13 of the original 13 states.

The rights the Founding Fathers found most important were placed in the First Amendment.

It says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Thomas Jefferson, who served as the third President of the United States, said the First Amendment “clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between church and State’ . . . That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.”

This is where the “wall between church and state” comes from. It is not in the Constitution.

Jefferson hit the nail on the head when he said “We should not approve the slightest breach.”

I am a Baptist so my religion does not include confessing my sins to a priest.

However, when I learned of a liberal Democrat trying to pierce that wall between church and state, I thought of the words of Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor in Germany. He was an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler.

He said: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Socialist.

“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

While there are some major differences between what Baptists and Catholics believe, if the government is allowed to destroy a part of one faith, it is an attack on all Christian faiths.

Sooner or later, liberals, who want to replace the Father, Son and Holy Ghost with federal, state and local government, will get around to attacking my religion. I don’t want there to be no one left to speak up for me.

California State Senator Jerry Hill used the old line “do it for the children.” Lots of politicians have used this line. Hitler was one of those politicians.

“The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes — with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk,” Hill said.

Friar Pius Pietrzyk, assistant professor of canon law at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., wrote in a recent op-ed piece saying “If this bill passes, no religion is safe.” Pietrzyk believes Hill’s bill is “nothing less than an attempt to jail innocent priests.”

“Although the priest acts as an instrument, confession is fundamentally about the encounter of the penitent Christian with God. He admits his sins to God and through the priest receives God’s absolution. It is a privileged moment in which a person reveals the deepest part of his conscience to God,” Pietrzyk wrote. “There is every reason to believe the elimination of the privilege would mean that perpetrators would simply not bring it to confession.”

Hill’s anti-catholic bill would force a priest who hears in the confessional about sins regarding sexual abuse to make a difficult choice.

The priest would face possible imprisonment or violate his conscience and the laws of the Catholic Church.

Catholic teachings say the “seal of confession” is inviolable and cannot be changed by human authority. The authority of God is higher than the authority of man. A priest who intentionally violates the seal to submit to the authority of man commits a mortal sin and incurs an automatic excommunication.

Hill’s bill seeks to show the authority of man is higher than the authority of God.

Christians of any denomination need to stand with Catholics on this issue because once religion-hating liberals poke one hole in the wall between church and state, they will be back to enlarge that hole to hurt all Christ-based faiths.