Sectarian Liberties With Government Funds

Re “The State of California vs. the Catholic Church,” Voices, March 2: After reading that the state of California intends to interfere with the Roman Catholic Church as to its moral stand on contraception, I wonder where the liberals’ “separation of church and state” philosophy fits into the big picture.

The warning must be given to every religious entity in California and the nation that if the strongest church in the land can be told what it can preach and enforce within its religion, then everyone is subject to the same lack of liberty. Furthermore, it must be noted that the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. is the largest religious charity in the world, and even surpasses the U.S. government, as it, along with other missions throughout the world, feeds, clothes, houses and, most important, educates more poor than any organization on the face of the globe.

Edward T. Graney

Dana Point

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Thomas Curry argues that Catholic Charities should be exempted from laws contrary to Catholic dogma. He neglected to mention that CC receives 62% of its funding from government sources and only 12% from the church and community (1999 figures from the CC Web site). By any reasonable interpretation, the 1st Amendment prohibits government funding of purely sectarian functions.

He is, however, correct that the granting of exemptions based on a governmental declaration that certain organizations are religious in nature is a violation of the separation of church and state. In this case the government would be abetting the coercion of employees to adhere to a sectarian doctrine. Why, then, shouldn’t anyone who objects to a law for any reason be given an exemption? Where in the Constitution are religions placed above the laws of the people of the United States?

George Tucker

Redondo Beach