The following is a wonderful letter written by my beloved wife to Vice President Biden who, on a radio interview on April 1st, 2012, flat-out lied both about "where we ended up" with regard to the HHS Mandate promulgated by Secretary Sebelius under the direction of President Obama, and about those who oppose these and all the other unconstitutional actions of the current Administration. I would comment on the specifics of this incident if I thought that were necessary, but they're covered very well by my lovely wife and her sources are clearly sited, so any interested parties can follow up easily. Please share this and everything trustworthy regarding the truth about the Administration's attack on our First Amendment rights, keep yourself informed at StopHHS.com, and join with all patriotic Americans in defending our first freedoms.
Vice President Joseph Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20501
Dear Vice President Joseph Biden,
I am incredibly disappointed that you would perpetuate falsehoods and fantasies in your interview on Face the Nation on April 1, 2012. You made several statements during that interview that were patently false and outright lies.
First, you state that the current place "where we ended up" is that "every woman in America should be able to have insurance coverage for birth control, if she so chooses. And that the Catholic Church and other churches should not have to pay for it, or provide it."1 The rule that was placed into law, however, is the initial rule that was repugnant to Archbishop Timothy Dolan and the other leaders of the Catholic Church and many others of other religious persuasions. The rule as it stands is that insurance plans not covered by the exemption cover "All Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity."2 The exemption as written in law continues to be so narrow that it excludes religious hospitals, schools, and charities which have a faith-driven mission to serve the whole world, whether their beneficiaries share the same faith or not. As Bishop Zubik says, this mandate is so narrowly drawn that "Jesus Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption."3 This mandate continues to force these institutions to choose between their mission and their deeply held religious conviction that pregnancy and fertility should not be treated as a disease and that life begins at conception. This mandate forces the President's beliefs on these employers, insisting that they violate their conscience and their religion to buy something mandated by President Obama.
The fact is that the mandate, as repugnant as it was to so many, was finalized without change. The accommodation that was touted is still in a comment period and is not even binding. The accommodation continues to violate religious freedom and conscience with its shell game. To pretend that an insurance plan, provided by and subsidized by a Catholic employer, will provide free "contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity" without passing on the costs to the payer suggests a grave mischaracterization of how our economy works. Furthermore, even if some feel this, as yet non-binding, accommodation provides conscience protection, the fact is that others do not: hence, this continues to force institutions and individuals to violate their conscience.
Second, you state "They're saying that the-- we should-- women should be prescribed or states can prescribe or individuals can proscribe. Women say, you can't use birth control? I mean, I-- I-- I-- I think it's totally out of touch with reality, and totally out of touch with what the independents and the right of women to decide for themselves whether or not they want to use contraception, and I-- I just find it remarkable that the argument is even taking place."1 This, too, is an outright lie about your opponents. The fact is that not one of the Republican candidates for President or Republican politician has suggested that birth control be banned. The fact is that not one of the US Catholic Bishops or those who stand with them have suggested that birth control be outlawed or that doctors be prohibited from prescribing birth control or women be told that they cannot take birth control. Given these facts, your statement can be characterized as nothing else but a lie. As such, I demand that you retract it, issuing a public apology for lying about them. There is no excuse to lie like this.
What we do oppose is being forced to pay for a product, in this case insurance policies that provide birth control free of cost, that violates our conscience, institutional or individual. With this mandate, the government is compelling institutions and individuals to purchase something that violates their conscience. This is a grave violation of our rights to practice our religion freely. In the words of our bishops:
We oppose the federal government taking it upon itself to define what a religious employer is. Even with the accommodation this extremely narrow definition would continue to persist. This intervention into church governance is unwarranted, unprecedented, and unconstitutional. It brings to mind the words of Chief Justice Roberts in the opinion delivered for a unanimous Court, that in interfering with the employment decisions of the Hosanna-Tabor school, "the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions."5 Again, in the words of our bishops:
The HHS mandate goes further in intruding upon the conscience rights of individuals, who are left with no conscience protections at all. It provides no protection for the individual Catholic, operating a business, who finds it a violation of her conscience to purchase these insurance plans for her employees. It provides no protection for an individual Catholic who finds purchasing a health plan for themselves that subsidizes birth control to be a violation of their conscience. As our bishops state "this, too, is unprecedented in federal law, which has long been generous in protecting the rights of individuals not to act against their religious beliefs or moral convictions."4
Please cease and desist in lying about those of us who oppose the Mandate which violates our Freedom to Exercise our Religion, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. Please stop spreading misinformation, mischaracterization, and untruths about those of us who object to being forced to violate our consciences and those of us who object to others being forced to violate their consciences. You say that you are Catholic - to spread such lies about those who oppose the mandate is to commit the grave sin of calumny. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states "Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty [...] of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them" (§2477)6. This is precisely what you have done. Further, the CCC states in §2482-2483 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving. [...] Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord."6 Later the CCC states "Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships. Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author has been forgiven." (§2486-2487, emphasis added).6 Again, this is precisely what you have done.
As a fellow Catholic, I ask you to repent, to make public reparation for the lies you have perpetuated. This is what the Church you claim to belong to demands when an offense against truth is committed. Will you listen to your Church - or have you separated yourself from the Catholic Church? I pray, for your sake, that you will turn from your wicked ways and cease bearing false witness against your neighbor.
1. "Face the Nation transcript: April 1, 2012". CBS News. Page 5. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57407723/face-the-nation-transcript-april-1-2012/?pageNum=5&tag=contentMain;contentBody. Accessed 2 April 2012.
2. Women's Preventive Services: Required Health Plan Coverage guidelines. http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/. Accessed 3 February 2012.
3. Bishop David A. Zubik, Diocese of Pittsburgh. To Hell with You. http://diopitt.org/bridging-gap/hell-you . Accessed 3 February 2012.
4. March 14 Statement on Religious Freedom and HHS Mandate. A Statement of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. March 14, 2012. http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/march-14-statement-on-religious-freedom-and-hhs-mandate.cfm. Accessed 2 April 2012.
5. Supreme Court of the United States Syllabus "Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Et Al." Argued October 5, 2011. Decided January 11, 2012. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-553.pdf Accessed 3 February 2012.
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition. Libreria Editrice Vaticana,1997. United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington D.C. 20501
Dear Vice President Joseph Biden,
I am incredibly disappointed that you would perpetuate falsehoods and fantasies in your interview on Face the Nation on April 1, 2012. You made several statements during that interview that were patently false and outright lies.
First, you state that the current place "where we ended up" is that "every woman in America should be able to have insurance coverage for birth control, if she so chooses. And that the Catholic Church and other churches should not have to pay for it, or provide it."1 The rule that was placed into law, however, is the initial rule that was repugnant to Archbishop Timothy Dolan and the other leaders of the Catholic Church and many others of other religious persuasions. The rule as it stands is that insurance plans not covered by the exemption cover "All Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity."2 The exemption as written in law continues to be so narrow that it excludes religious hospitals, schools, and charities which have a faith-driven mission to serve the whole world, whether their beneficiaries share the same faith or not. As Bishop Zubik says, this mandate is so narrowly drawn that "Jesus Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption."3 This mandate continues to force these institutions to choose between their mission and their deeply held religious conviction that pregnancy and fertility should not be treated as a disease and that life begins at conception. This mandate forces the President's beliefs on these employers, insisting that they violate their conscience and their religion to buy something mandated by President Obama.
The fact is that the mandate, as repugnant as it was to so many, was finalized without change. The accommodation that was touted is still in a comment period and is not even binding. The accommodation continues to violate religious freedom and conscience with its shell game. To pretend that an insurance plan, provided by and subsidized by a Catholic employer, will provide free "contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity" without passing on the costs to the payer suggests a grave mischaracterization of how our economy works. Furthermore, even if some feel this, as yet non-binding, accommodation provides conscience protection, the fact is that others do not: hence, this continues to force institutions and individuals to violate their conscience.
Second, you state "They're saying that the-- we should-- women should be prescribed or states can prescribe or individuals can proscribe. Women say, you can't use birth control? I mean, I-- I-- I-- I think it's totally out of touch with reality, and totally out of touch with what the independents and the right of women to decide for themselves whether or not they want to use contraception, and I-- I just find it remarkable that the argument is even taking place."1 This, too, is an outright lie about your opponents. The fact is that not one of the Republican candidates for President or Republican politician has suggested that birth control be banned. The fact is that not one of the US Catholic Bishops or those who stand with them have suggested that birth control be outlawed or that doctors be prohibited from prescribing birth control or women be told that they cannot take birth control. Given these facts, your statement can be characterized as nothing else but a lie. As such, I demand that you retract it, issuing a public apology for lying about them. There is no excuse to lie like this.
What we do oppose is being forced to pay for a product, in this case insurance policies that provide birth control free of cost, that violates our conscience, institutional or individual. With this mandate, the government is compelling institutions and individuals to purchase something that violates their conscience. This is a grave violation of our rights to practice our religion freely. In the words of our bishops:
"We wish to clarify what this debate is—and is not—about. This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church's hand and with the Church's funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops' somehow "banning contraception," when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions—to act against Church teachings. This is not a matter of opposition to universal health care, which has been a concern of the Bishops' Conference since 1919, virtually at its founding. This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. Finally, this is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue.4 (emphasis added)
We oppose the federal government taking it upon itself to define what a religious employer is. Even with the accommodation this extremely narrow definition would continue to persist. This intervention into church governance is unwarranted, unprecedented, and unconstitutional. It brings to mind the words of Chief Justice Roberts in the opinion delivered for a unanimous Court, that in interfering with the employment decisions of the Hosanna-Tabor school, "the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions."5 Again, in the words of our bishops:
"HHS thus creates and enforces a new distinction—alien both to our Catholic tradition and to federal law—between our houses of worship and our great ministries of service to our neighbors, namely, the poor, the homeless, the sick, the students in our schools and universities, and others in need, of any faith community or none. Cf. Deus Caritas Est, Nos. 20-33. We are commanded both to love and to serve the Lord; laws that protect our freedom to comply with one of these commands but not the other are nothing to celebrate. Indeed, they must be rejected, for they create a 'second class' of citizenship within our religious community. And if this definition is allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity. All—not just some—of our religious institutions share equally in the very same God-given, legally-recognized right not "to be forced to act in a manner contrary to [their] own beliefs." Dignitatis Humanae, No. 2."4
Furthermore: "Those deemed by HHS not to be "religious employers" will be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world."4The HHS mandate goes further in intruding upon the conscience rights of individuals, who are left with no conscience protections at all. It provides no protection for the individual Catholic, operating a business, who finds it a violation of her conscience to purchase these insurance plans for her employees. It provides no protection for an individual Catholic who finds purchasing a health plan for themselves that subsidizes birth control to be a violation of their conscience. As our bishops state "this, too, is unprecedented in federal law, which has long been generous in protecting the rights of individuals not to act against their religious beliefs or moral convictions."4
Please cease and desist in lying about those of us who oppose the Mandate which violates our Freedom to Exercise our Religion, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. Please stop spreading misinformation, mischaracterization, and untruths about those of us who object to being forced to violate our consciences and those of us who object to others being forced to violate their consciences. You say that you are Catholic - to spread such lies about those who oppose the mandate is to commit the grave sin of calumny. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states "Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty [...] of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them" (§2477)6. This is precisely what you have done. Further, the CCC states in §2482-2483 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving. [...] Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord."6 Later the CCC states "Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships. Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author has been forgiven." (§2486-2487, emphasis added).6 Again, this is precisely what you have done.
As a fellow Catholic, I ask you to repent, to make public reparation for the lies you have perpetuated. This is what the Church you claim to belong to demands when an offense against truth is committed. Will you listen to your Church - or have you separated yourself from the Catholic Church? I pray, for your sake, that you will turn from your wicked ways and cease bearing false witness against your neighbor.
Sincerely,
Elisa J. Kolk
1. "Face the Nation transcript: April 1, 2012". CBS News. Page 5. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57407723/face-the-nation-transcript-april-1-2012/?pageNum=5&tag=contentMain;contentBody. Accessed 2 April 2012.
2. Women's Preventive Services: Required Health Plan Coverage guidelines. http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/. Accessed 3 February 2012.
3. Bishop David A. Zubik, Diocese of Pittsburgh. To Hell with You. http://diopitt.org/bridging-gap/hell-you . Accessed 3 February 2012.
4. March 14 Statement on Religious Freedom and HHS Mandate. A Statement of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. March 14, 2012. http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/march-14-statement-on-religious-freedom-and-hhs-mandate.cfm. Accessed 2 April 2012.
5. Supreme Court of the United States Syllabus "Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Et Al." Argued October 5, 2011. Decided January 11, 2012. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-553.pdf Accessed 3 February 2012.
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition. Libreria Editrice Vaticana,1997. United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.
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