Catholic Bishops Declare Birth Control Fight Their First Priority

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops are going after President Obama by naming the President’s mandate on contraceptive health coverage a top priority.

In a bishops’ statement the church revealed:

“This dispute is not about access to contraceptives, but about the government’s forcing the church to provide them.”

The bishops add that if the mandate is “allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity.”

Under President Obama’s mandate contraceptive insurance coverage must be offered to most workers, even if they work for a religious organization that opposes the use of birth control.

The council has named birth control as its number one issue however the group says it will fight other battles in the coming months such as limitations on campus religious groups and the requirement that clerics turn in illegal immigrants.

The churches move to take on the birth control issue has gained momentum as an increasing number of conservatives stand behind

One insider tells the Washington Post:

“The bishops haven’t been in the rally business. This is a dramatic difference from the past.”

It’s still unclear how the Bishop’s plan to take on the issue with the possibility of rally’s and even legal action possible.

In the meantime we have to question why the church is taking focus off more pressing issues of public need to focus on this issue. A good guess would be that the church is hoping to align its congregations with a right wing conservative GOP nominee in the hopes of gaining a footing to ultimately influence the US Presidency.

Do you think Catholic Bishops could find more useful “top priorities” at a time when families are going hungry, people are freezing in the cold and other far more pressing issues are running rampant throughout America?