The Catholic church acknowledged Monday that they have no plans to
revise their stance on birth control or same-sex marriage despite
falling flat with voters this year.
This comes alongside complaints
filed last week with the Internal Revenue Service that allege that many
bishops and religious organizations violated requirements that they be
non-partisan during this past election.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the leader of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, commented
that "The election is a symptom of a much larger problem. Most people
don't understand what marriage is."
He argued that because opponents of
same sex marriage did not spend as much on campaigns as advocates of
equality, the social conservative view held by the Church was defeated.
Instead of discussing a different stance towards the issues, the
Conference of U.S. Catholic Bishops recapped what may have gone wrong in
their attempt to reach out to Latino Catholic voters. He also mentioned
that the bishops are evaluating how to be more persuasive on the
issues.
Bishops sent a letter earlier this month urging Congress to
overturn mandatory birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act
and some 25 similar letters by various religious organizations have been
filed against the policy since last year.
At the same time, Catholic Bishops and the Christian Evangelical group lead by Billy Graham are coming under scrutiny
for potentially violating IRS regulations during the election.
Similar
to non-profit organizations, churches may take a political stance on any
issue but are not allowed to speak in favor or against any political
candidate or party.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed a
complaint with the IRS that individuals bishops within the Catholic
church abused their power to persuade their followers to vote against
President Barack Obama.
Freedom from Religion Foundation, a
Wisconsin-based organization for separation of church and state, filed a
separate complaint
against Catholic bishops in Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin, as well
as against the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization.
Billy Graham's
evangelical group states that it urged voters to vote for candidates who
supported "the sanctity of life" and marriage between a man and a
woman, but that its political ads never said which candidate or
political party that would be.