Theology/Bible

First They Came for the Catholics…

Sobering words from Chuck Colson and Timothy George at Christianity Today online about the new healthcare law requiring religious groups to pay for abortions:

We do not exaggerate when we say that this is the greatest threat to religious freedom in our lifetime. We cannot help but think of the words attributed to German pastor Martin Niemoeller, reflecting on the Nazi terror:

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.

8 Comments

    • Denny Burk

      Paul,

      I’m happy for you to participate in this discussion. I’m even happy for you to disagree. But I don’t think it contributes much to the conversation when you keep repeating assertions that are just plain wrong on the facts. You are entitled to your own perspective, but not to your own facts.

      The healthcare legislation does in fact cover abortifacients (i.e., drugs that induce abortions like Plan B and Ella). It also covers IUD’s which are also abortifacient. Those are the facts.

      I appreciate your reading, and I appreciate your taking time to comment. But I’m not going to let you take another discussion down a rabbit trail that continues to get the basic facts of the matter wrong.

      Thanks,
      Denny

      • yankeegospelgirl

        This was what I meant with my comment on the other thread about saying that this legislation would force hospitals to pay for abortions. I still say that would be a mis-leading way to talk about this. It’s forcing hospitals to take a risk that COULD result in loss of life in certain cases.

  • Jason

    You have offered another non-sequitur. Read my question again, and answer it and ignore the question you seem to want to answer that has not been asked.

  • Cynthia

    “First They Came For the Catholics…”

    Except, no-one has come for the Catholics. In fact, the Catholics are doing quite well. Not arrested. Not in jail. Catholic Charities USA went from receiving $440 million in federal funding in 2008 to more than $554 million in2010.

    As far as I recall, when Hitler “came for the Jews,” the Nazi government wasn’t spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Jewish social services.

    The Catholics will be just fine.

    • Jason

      Yes, by all means, let’s wait until something does happen, that is a very well considered position. The subject is clearly not worthwhile, because though the government is telling people what their moral framework must be on this matter from now on, they haven’t actually penalized anyone over it yet, so let’s just wait. And even though such an occurrence is vastly more typical than rights being protected in our world, as no one has actually been imprisoned yet, so let’s get behind Cindy’s “It’s OK, *pat pat*” program and just sit back and enjoy the scenery and cool it until, well, until it affects us personally. THEN I’ll worry about it.

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