U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction against the U.S. federal government preventing it from enforcing a controversial regulation that would require Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, a Catholic organization, to authorize their insurance company to provide coverage for contraceptives and surgical sterilization for their employees. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision.[USA Today] Meanwhile, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote to President Obama asking that enforcement of the regulation be suspended until the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue in two cases it has agreed to hear.[USCCB]
Category: Religion
Catholic Archdiocese of New York wins injunction
A federal court in New York has awarded the Catholic Archdiocese of New York a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the contentious federal regulation that requires objecting employers to pay for health insurance for contraception and surgical sterilization. The federal government can appeal the ruling. [New York Times]
Kenyan Muslim leader comment on Islamic medical ethics open to question
Sheikh Abduwahab Mursal, described in a Daily Nation report as a “top religious leader” in Kenya, is reported to have said that “it [is] a taboo in the Islamic faith for a woman to be touched by or discuss sexuality with a man even if he is a medical practitioner.” The comment appears in a news story about Sheikh Mursal’s efforts to convince Muslims in Kenya to embrace “modern family planning” practices. [Daily Nation]. The Sheik is secretary of the Wajir branch of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya.
This kind of assertion has created an impression in western countries that Muslim physicians may not examine patients of the opposite sex, an impression that is being used to justify suppression of freedom of conscience among health care workers, and which tends to fuel prejudice against Muslim medical and nursing students and physicians. If the Sheikh’s statement has been accurately reported, it is certainly at odds with practice in even the most conservative Islamic countries.
Objection to euthanasia reported to be minority position in Belgium
Reports from Belgium suggest that objection to euthanasia has become a minority position in the country, and that increasing acceptance of the practice has led to its normalization, evidenced by the development of “new rituals” like a “last supper,” final manicures and other forms of advance preparation. One marker of this is the report that a Catholic priest was present and administered the sacrament of the sick to two deaf twins who were lethally injected because they were going blind; their family was described as devoutly Catholic. For those opposed to euthanasia, increasing acceptance of the procedure demonstrates the existence of a slippery slope. Those who support it believe the phenomenon reflects a natural (and positive) evolution of morality. [National Post, 22 Nov., 24 Nov.]
Quebec’s latest niqab panic
National Post
Never having witnessed fascism taking hold, I wouldn’t claim to know it to see it. But whenever commentators have likened the Parti Québécois’ proposed “secularism charter” to the early drumbeats of some historically dire intolerance, my first instinct has been to scoff.
It’s certainly stupid and unfair to threaten public servants with unemployment if they don’t forsake certain religious customs, all to solve a problem that no one except the pollsters seems able to quantify. It’s certainly disturbing that any political party would stoop so low in search of support, and all the more so that the PQ seems to be finding it down there.
But whatever the polls say, Montreal seems more cosmopolitan every time I visit. Despite reports of an uptick in anti-Muslim confrontations, surely it’s a fantastically unlikely breeding ground for any sort of widespread, street-level discrimination.
Surely. But events recently took a shivery turn: A week ago, a woman spotted two daycare workers, dressed in niqabs, marshalling their young charges through the streets of Verdun, in southwest Montreal. And as one does nowadays, she snapped a photo and posted it to Facebook.
Thousands of people saw it. And not all of the commentary was polite. [Full text]