Catholic Bishops Promote Countercultural Religious Freedom Week

As secular culture pushback grows against religious freedom, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) continues to be countercultural in its advocacy for this first liberty. Contrary to the often outright disdain of Christian orthodoxy from many U.S. institutions, the USCCB took a different approach in promoting last month’s Religious Freedom Week.

The celebration took place June 22-29, appropriately beginning with the feast days of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. To promote the week, various USCCB committees collaborated to showcase a different issue each day.

Across the past year, progressive Christian organizations including Union Theological Seminary, the Episcopal Church, and others on the Religious Left have disregarded the importance of religious liberty.

The USCCB, on the other hand, dedicated an entire week to the celebration and promotion of this vital liberty. Religious freedom “allows the Church, and all religious communities, to live out their faith in public and to serve the good of all,” according to the USCCB website. Throughout the week, Catholics were given concrete ways to “pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom.”

The first day focused upon adoption and foster care, noting that “the command to care for the orphan appears throughout the Scriptures.” The bishops specify where the problem areas are, noting how some adoption agencies were “forced to shut down because they do not place children with same-sex couples.” They call attention to specific legal battles such as the recently decided Catholic Social Services Supreme Court case and The Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act.

On a different day, bishops took on the proposed Equality Act. They decry the legislation saying it “purports to protect people experiencing same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria from discrimination in these and other areas,” but in reality, “is the codification of the new ideology of ‘gender’ in federal law.” While nice-sounding language is often used to describe the act, this is deceptive. The act is misguided because it requires “all Americans to speak and act as if there is no meaningful distinction between the sexes and as if gender has no connection to the body.” It “legally and socially harms Americans in serious ways and injures the common good.”

Bishops later noted that medical professionals are in particular need of religious freedom protections. In recent years “activists have sought to undermine the Church’s mission by forcing Catholic hospitals to perform procedures that destroy human life and undermine human flourishing, such as sterilization, gender reassignment surgery, and even abortion.”

The final day of Religious Liberty Week was aptly dedicated to the freedom of speech. Free speech is important for religious liberty because it is increasingly difficult to advocate for it. The bishops allude to the recent book banning of Dr. Ryan Anderson’s When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. His book was removed from Amazon without warning because it promoted views on transgenderism that are counter to the prevailing culture. Anderson, a Catholic political activist, is controversial for promoting orthodox Catholic teaching on sexuality, gender, and marriage. The website encourages us to “pray that Christians will have the courage to speak the truth with kindness and clarity, even in the face of adversity.”

Other days highlight Pope Francis’ recent trip to persecuted Iraqi Christians, the attack by the government of Nicaragua on the Church because it supported sanctuary for protestors, and a rising tide of church vandalism in America and across the world.