The U.S. bishops told a Senate subcommittee on March 29 that
Catholics face growing threats to their religious liberty, because of a
“radical secular perspective” that seeks to eliminate moral judgments
from public life.
“Religious communities, including our own Catholic community, have
suffered from and still experience religious bigotry, bias and
prejudice,” said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of
Washington, D.C.
He testified on behalf of the U.S. bishops at a Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing prompted by concerns about America Muslims'
civil rights.
Cardinal McCarrick said that most instances of religious intolerance
in modern Western countries are not motivated by sectarian tension
between different faiths.
Today, he observed, religious intolerance more
often originates from “a radical secular perspective that insists that
no moral principle or religious belief should ever challenge individual
decisions.”
The cardinal acknowledged some U.S. Muslims' concerns about prejudice
and suspicion, heightened by a March 2010 House of Representatives
hearing on “radical Islam.”
He recalled that Catholics' own history “as
an immigrant people and a religious minority” was “filled with stories
of persecution, suspicion fear, and intolerance.”
Cardinal McCarrick explained that the Catholic Church upholds the
civil liberty of all religious believers who live in accordance with
society's common good and the natural law.
“It is the duty of the
Church,” he said, “to urge all people of good will to avoid all forms of
religious bigotry, bias and hateful words that injure the dignity of
persons.”
But the cardinal pointed out that “offenses against the religious liberty of Catholics” are “not merely a thing of the past.”
“Indeed,” he said, “it continues to be important to raise the issue today.”
“Acts of bias and discrimination towards Catholics and our beliefs
are often expressed very publicly,” Cardinal McCarrick noted.
“For
example, we are charged with discrimination or called 'bigots' when we
advocate for the traditional understanding of marriage between one man
and one woman, which many religious and non religious traditions have
supported throughout human history.”
“We advocate for an authentic vision of marriage not to offend or to
treat people unjustly, but to offer a positive and healthy model of the
human family, which has served as the foundation of society throughout
the ages.”
“The identity and integrity of our Catholic social institutions, or
indeed those of other religious traditions, are also being threatened,”
he continued.
Cardinal McCarrick warned that when “the state narrowly defines in
legislation which religious institutions are 'religious enough' to enjoy
religious freedom protections, or when the state imposes restrictions
on how religious institutions and individuals are able to serve those in
need, the ability to exercise religious freedom in an effective and
authentic manner is greatly undermined.”
“There are well known contemporary examples,” he reminded lawmakers,
“where the state would force religious groups and individuals to choose
between following their religious beliefs and practices and following
the dictates of law.”
“Where is the respect for religious freedom in compelling a religious
entity to act in ways which contradict its most basic moral
principles?” he asked.
Cardinal McCarrick said that it was especially important for the
United States to show the Muslim world an example of healthy religious
pluralism, rather than giving in to an aggressively secularized vision
of social life.
“As predominantly Muslim societies wrestle with how to treat
religious minorities, let them look to our nation,” he said, “where we
work to ensure that their Muslim sisters and brothers are treated with
dignity and their religious identity and beliefs are treated with
respect.”
“Let them see a people blessed with hard won religious freedom,
living out our commitment to the rights of all by demonstrating full
respect for the identity, integrity and freedom of all religions and
their institutions.”