Following an announcement last week by the Catholic Charities of Boston that it would no longer offer adoption services, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney formally proposed a bill Wednesday that would exempt Catholic Charities from a state anti-discrimination law that currently requires the organization to provide adoption services to gay and lesbian couples. (See prior posting.) Reporting on the Governor's bill, the Boston Globe Wednesday quoted Romney's letter to state legislative leaders: "It is a matter beyond dispute, and a prerequisite to the preservation of liberty, that government not dictate to religious institutions the moral principles by which they are to carry out their charitable and divine mission." [Thanks to Blog From the Capital for the lead.]
In response, the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) and the Massachusetts chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State yesterday issued a release arguing that the proposed exemption for Catholic Charities would be unconstitutional. They said, "The First Amendment's free exercise clause grants us all the right to hold whatever beliefs we choose, and to act in accordance with them in our private affairs. It does not, however, permit any individual or institution to engage in bigotry in the discharge of a public or governmentally regulated function."
