Catholic Bishops Issue New Statement On Challenges To Religious Liberty

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Thursday issued a new call to action to defend religious liberty.  In a document titled Our First Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty, the bishops said:

As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.

The statement cites 7 specific areas of concern to the bishops: the HHS mandate on contraceptive coverage in health insurance policies; state immigration laws that threaten pastoral outreach to illegal immigrants; a Connecticut bill that would have forced restructuring of parish governance; Hastings College of Law denial of recognition to the Christian Legal Society because of religious limits on who could be leaders; governmental refusals to fund Catholic foster care and adoption services that refuse to place children with same-sex couples; New York City's rule against churches renting out space in school buildings on weekends; and disqualifying USCCB from administering human trafficking grants because it will not provide or refer for contraceptive or abortion services. (See prior related posting.)  [Thanks to Marty Lederman via Religionlaw for the lead.]