Lies that get told in the battle for men’s minds

One of most despicable Soviet practices was the use of fraud and deceit to achieve their ends. Lenin instituted this policy at the outset when he dubbed his tiny group of supporters “Bolsheviks” (from bolshoi, meaning great) and his very much more numerous opponents “Mensheviks” (implying they were the tiny faction).

The technique was continually employed to demonize opponents and deny them a voice in the public square. Citizens who peacefully protested oppression were branded as “hooligans.” Jews and Christians who sought to practice their faiths were dubbed “anti–social elements.”

Nations that timidly opposed Soviet barbarities were smeared as “aggressors,” while the reflexively belligerent USSR and its puppets fraudulently described themselves as “peace–loving peoples.”

A similar degree of deceit is reflected in the current campaign to force religious institutions to provide their employees with all manner of birth control services—including those contrary to long–established church teachings.

This campaign is based upon the blatantly false proposition that the provision of free contraceptives is a “women’s health issue.”

1. When a woman’s health is genuinely at risk, employers’ heath insurers, religious and secular, routinely cover birth control measures. The health and safety of the mother is held to be paramount.
2. The idea that “free” or “cheap” contraceptives are available only through health insurers is manifestly false. They are readily available free or at very low cost from places such as birth control clinics, supermarkets, and high school and college health departments.

The real aim of the campaign, in fact, is to force all religious organizations tacitly but publicly to sanction casual, vicarious sex. This has been the goal of radicals since the French Revolution, not because casual sex might be pleasurable, but on the theory it will undermine the traditional family and pave the way for far–reaching revolutionary change.

While the Roman Catholic Church might appear to be the primary victim of the campaign, virtually all religions—Christian, Jewish, and Moslem—are targets. No religious jurisdiction or organization I am aware of has declared itself in favor of casual, vicarious sex or the destruction of the traditional family.

Certainly, the doctrine of the Roman Church on the matter of contraception is more rigorous than that of many religious bodies. But it is hard to think of a Christian, Jewish, or Moslem religious group that does not have problems with—or ethical objections to—some of the modern birth control practices, if only “late-term” or “post birth” abortions.

Those campaigning in favor of the legislation are attempting to deny people of all faiths the freedom to act according to their religious precepts and their consciences—flouting the rights guaranteed to us in the First Amendment.

This is not merely a fight to uphold the values of the Roman Church. It is a battle to defend the right of all people of faith to live in accordance with their religious teachings.

When a government attempts to overthrow of the legitimate precepts of one religious group, it is in fact attacking the rights of all of religious organizations—even those, like atheists, opposed to religion. If the state can, by fiat, delegitimize one article of faith, all expressions of faith are in jeopardy. GPH✠