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“Check out this headline!” implored an excited email from a friend of mine, a Protestant well aware of my Catholic loyalties. The headline declared: “CATHOLICS SUE OBAMA.
The headline came from a popular website. In mere minutes, more emails flooded into my box. It turned out that on a single day 43 Catholic dioceses, archdioceses, organizations, universities, schools and groups had filed 12 federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services mandate on contraception, sterilization and abortion drugs. That mandate, a stunning display of executive fiat, has been pushed unrelentingly by President Barack Obama and his HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, a Roman Catholic.
The story hit on May 21, 2012, a kind of D-Day for the Catholic Church in its battle against ongoing salvos launched by the Obama administration. One observer called it “legal Armageddon.”
Everyone reading this newspaper is familiar with what happened. They are aware of the accompanying statements from Cardinals Timothy Dolan and Donald Wuerl and others. Even Notre Dame, burned by honoring Obama with an honorary degree in May 2009, participated.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans do not know that these lawsuits — a truly extraordinary, unprecedented action — have been filed. Aiding and abetting their ignorance were the major news networks, which flagrantly ignored the story. Their sin of omission was caught by Brent Bozell, head of the longtime media watchdog the Media Research Center. Bozell stated:
You’d think the largest legal action in American history in defense of religious liberty would be a major news story. But ABC, CBS and NBC don’t judge news events by their inherent importance, as relates to the future of our freedoms. They deliver the news according to a simple formula: Does it, or doesn’t it, advance the re-election of Barack Obama?
It’s truly jaw-dropping that ABC and NBC completely ignored the coordinated legal action on their evening newscasts, while CBS Evening News devoted just 19 seconds to this historic event.
No, let’s be blunt: They spiked the news.
This is the worst example of shameless bias by omission I have seen in the quarter-century history of the Media Research Center.
We could come up with fancy theories as to why the media would ignore this dramatic headline, but the answer is simple: The mainstream media is liberal, wildly “pro-choice” and scandalously biased in support of President Obama. Oh, and it also isn’t an enthusiastic admirer of Catholic moral doctrine. The media is ignoring this significant story to help protect President Obama.
As an illustration of the media bias, I’d like to offer a point of contrast:
By my recollection, the last time the hierarchy of the Church expressed a notably high level of public concern (though not nearly at today’s level) regarding the policies of a presidential administration came in the 1980s over the Reagan administration’s nuclear policy. Certain bishops expressed reservations about the arms buildup pursued by the Reagan administration. The concern was such that the entirety of the bishops took up the issue.
There were many nuances and details to this issue, too many to cover here. But a few things stand out from the incident, particularly in contrast to the current situation with the Obama administration and the bishops (and the media).
The Reagan administration suggested that certain bishops misperceived the goal of President Reagan’s arms buildup. As President Reagan said many times, his goal was not to launch nuclear war, but to bring the Soviets to the negotiating table in order to actually reduce nuclear stockpiles and lessen the prospects of nuclear war. The Reagan strategy was “peace through strength,” to build up in order to ultimately build down. To cite just one of innumerable examples, Reagan made this crystal clear in a major televised speech on the “zero-zero option” in August 1981.
For the record, this strategy worked, culminating in the historic INF Treaty and START agreements in Reagan’s second term. The INF Treaty became the first treaty to abolish an entire class of nuclear weapons (intermediate-range nuclear missiles) and was the precise culmination of Reagan’s vision expressed in his August 1981 speech.
For the Reagan team, clarifying this policy (and these intentions) to the bishops was a top priority. Reagan’s closest aides had great respect for the bishops. They saw the bishops and the Catholic Church, from the American leadership to Pope John Paul II’s Vatican, as cherished allies on the same team.
Among Reagan’s team, National Security Adviser Bill Clark, a devout Roman Catholic, became the front man in reaching out to the bishops. Clark engaged in a long, sustained dialogue with Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the point man for the bishops. Clark’s letters to and from Cardinal Bernardin were lengthy; they were also polite, thoughtful and constructive. Unlike the current mess with the Obama administration, these were kindred souls working together and legitimately attempting to resolve differences. These were honest brokers who treated one another with deference, civility and charity. They wanted each other’s support. I know this well because I’m Bill Clark’s biographer. I saw it in depth, firsthand, reading all the correspondence.
As for the media, reporters were on this story big-time. In one case, the full text of one of the Reagan administration’s formal letters to the bishops, signed by Bill Clark, was reprinted in newspapers, including the Nov. 17, 1982, New York Times. In fact, the media coverage by The New York Times and Washington Post alone was so vast that I, as Clark’s biographer, was overwhelmed trying to wade through it. I had a literal box of articles to sort through. In the end, I found, as Clark and Reagan did, that much of the conflict really was based on a misunderstanding of the Reagan administration’s intentions.
To return to my point on media bias and President Obama and the Church today: Unlike the major media currently ignoring the 12 lawsuits filed by more than 40 Catholic groups against Obama, the mainstream media in the 1980s went all out in covering the bishops and the Reagan administration. And yet, in the 1980s, there was not even a single lawsuit; there was basically only misunderstanding.
Today, there is no misunderstanding at all. No, these Catholics today understand the stakes completely, which is why they see no other recourse other than the judicial branch of our government. President Obama has forced them into a terrible position. So much so that, yes, we’re now witnessing the extraordinary spectacle of headlines like “CATHOLICS SUE OBAMA.”
One would think that our mainstream media might find all of this newsworthy. Sadly, however, for too many “journalists,” honest journalism is sacrificed at the altar of political ideology. Once again, truth is a casualty.
Paul Kengor is professor of political science and executive director of
the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College.
His books include The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan’s Top Hand,
God and Ronald Reagan, and The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.
Jimmy Akin: Was James, not Peter, the head of the Church after Jesus?
Matthew Warner: Ask Fr. Barron: What gives you hope for future of the Church?
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I don’t have time to search more sources but NBC gave 9 minutes to this issue on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Search before you speak.
Sebelius/Biden/Pelosi, etc. are most of the problem…None of them are Catholics; and why do they keep calling themselves Catholic. Uninformed Catholics look at them and think, “Well, if they think it’s OK, I guess it must be OK”. It is just devastating to me. God help us! Thanks for the great article!
The bias is so scary in the media. There is no longer the truth or at least a impartial review of the issues. If there were, I know that all the stations would have reported on these law suits. But this is more than scary; it is dangerous. A government can promote anything; even if it is dangerous for its citizens.
I am SHOCKED that CBS, NBC, ABC, and MSNBC are biased. Well, here’s the real truth—media in the United States is despicably biased. They are literally subverting our democracy, as they carefully distill the “news” to make it the propaganda they want people to read and hear, so that people can draw their own conclusions—but of course, the conclusions are almost inexorable when the media controls the information that is provided and what is omitted.
It seems to me, at least at my church, that the pastors are ignoring this issue also, both contraception and religious freedom. There are no homilies concerning these issues to let our mega church of 15,000 people know there’s even a problem. You talk about the media but when priests talk to millions on Sunday and can’t discuss these issues I ask why? I think we have this problem because of the many sins of omission from our religious leaders. Hopefully, they will decide to do what Christ calls them to do and take up their cross and follow Him instead of trying to be poplular with everyone. The Catholic people have been decieved because the true teachings of our faith haven’t been taught.
Satan does not “Friend” the cause of Light and Truth. The general media have “Defriended” us long ago- but the social networks and NCR and diocesan media and EWTN are counter-cultural.
Actually, I believe your title should be “Do Catholics Care?”, because judging by what I saw yesterday at Mass, I would have to give that a resounding “NO!”
Our Church is in a mess; it is not made better by the media, as they attack non-religious people who don’t adher to their political points of view with a viciousness I’ve not seen before; so why should Catholics not be at the top of their religious list?
It seems to me, that too many bishops and higher-ups in the Church have been too lax for too long, and now the wild chickens have all come home to roost; only the Church doesn’t want them, and doesn’t know what to do with them.
It’s nice to see unity for religious liberty; but where are the other faith communities? Why are the Jews and all Protestant churches not beating the drum along with us? What’s wrong with this picture? It’s not a Catholic issue; tell that to the ‘catholics’ at mass on Sunday. They’re too busy looking around to see who they know, when it’s Jesus in the tabernacle they should be greeting.
I am beyond disgusted. It’s a very strange time, for sure.
The media is always selfish. They want to gain wider readership. They are all against the Catholic Church because that is the only strong organization that holds on to its stool and does not budge. Only if Catholic Church is defeated all the hidden agenda on sexual matters can freely play
Pray, fast, give alms and do penance! If you cannot fast, give alms or do penance, you can pray. Give it to the Lord, He wants to help.
Jesus, I trust in You!
The Obama Media is implementing its Alinsky Rule - “If it’s not reported, it didn’t happen”. At the same time, Most Catholic Bishops and Priests are ignoring the HHS Mandate and Law suit. I hear and see absolutely “NOTHING” from the pulpit or bulletins.
Marshal McLuhan wrote “Give me control of the newspapers, radio and TV and I can get people to believe that the moon is made of green cheese.”
Explains Obama’s policy.
Barbara McDonnell, this article referenced news not commentary like MSNBC’s expressionless hack Matthews.
Dear Barbara McDonnell: I do hope you were being sarcastic regarding the 9 minutes on Chris Matthews show. Who watches Mad Chris?
I am a young catholic that really cares about issues like this. True, the media and some preachers may not make the issue know to the public, but also at schools (even catholic ones) no one talks about it. If you go to school wether it be college, H.S., middle, or elementary school, please tell your fellow classmates about the serious issue we are facing. Even even if you get laughed at keep on trying because that is how we’ll get through to America that religious freedom is on the borderline, and the media may be ignoring some important facts.
Let’s be honest here, is it fair to say that ALL media pushes an agenda (including this one)? I personally think so so, but what’s encouraging is that I feel people are realizing that that these biases take place in the news. The major news networks are really faced with a moral decision: Should I report on news that is in conflict with the corporations (and politicians) that support the station. In other words to what length should journalistic integrity be upheld? Do I really want to “bite the hand the feeds me”?
“One would think that our mainstream media might find all of this newsworthy. Sadly, however, for too many ‘journalists,’ honest journalism is sacrificed at the altar of political ideology. Once again, truth is a casualty.”
What goes around comes around; or what Reverend Wright (Obama’s preacher for 20 years) famously restated, “The chickens are coming home to roost.” The favorable press Cardinal Bernardin and bishops got opposing President Reagan’s handling of Nicaragua, restarting the arms race, and later neutralizing prolife’s electoral political success with the inclusion of so called “social justice” issues in its definition, creating what was called “a seamless garment,” were all applauded by the fawning liberal media because it was attacking conservative positions and weakening them.
What is ironic about the situation the bishops find themselves in, having to sue Obama and his Administration, is that their past actions have contributed to the very predicament they’re in. And now they are having to rely on the conservative Catholics and the conservatives on the Supreme Court to save them. President Obama and his Administration are the fruit of Cardinal Bernadin’s and the bishops’ collegiality campaign and their need to expand Bernardin’s liberal ideals within the Catholic Church in America.
I pray that it is not too late and that Catholics will be in the forefront of getting us a new president. But if not, the bishops have to look no further than their own “spiking” of Church teaching. In 1958, the Catholic teaching on “religious and racial prejudice against the fifth commandment” said, “To deny him his rights is a sin against justice as well as charity. This is particularly true IN THE CASE OF JOINING AN ORGANIZATION WHICH PROMOTES segregation OR ANY OTHER DENIAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS. (my emphasis) (Life in Christ – Instructions in the Catholic Faith.). In the 1995 rendition of that book (post Roe v Wade), the teaching was similar to that in the 1958 version, with one exception – the all inclusive wording “OR ANY OTHER DENIAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS” was omitted. Did that omission occur because joining an organization called the Democrat Party would be a sin for their “denial” of the right to life for the unborn in their Party Platform and in their deed as elected officials?
It would be great to have another update from the Bishops read at mass again soon. However, at a certain point, this does not even matter. The larger challenge is for each of us as individuals, as families, as Catholic Communities to live out our faith and to speak out to our non-Catholic friends and acquaintances. The secular culture of death is just shouting louder than we are. We can change that with prayer and effort.
The media seems content to serve the Obama Administration in the same way Pravda, Tass, and Izvestia used to do to abet the Soviets. Advancing state authority and control requires sublimation or even subjugation of religious moral principles in ways that infringe on religious values. Often the church is defamed if it is at odds with the social agenda of certain secular interests. Christianity can be whittled away slowly and deliberately with the usual political incrementalism that advances the intrusiveness of government. We certainly shouldn’t cooperate with that process and should not expect any sympathy or support from a state manipulated media. The message would better draw media attention on election day.
My husband and four young sons and I attended one of the nationwide Religious Freedom Rallies last Friday, held in a large city with many big parishes. Five others from our *very* small, rural parish had shown up for the event, which was almost an hour’s drive on the freeway for our parishioners. Guess how many Catholics were there from all those huge, city parishes? None that we could see. And it would have been merely a 2 to 15 minute drive from those parishes. There were a handful of Catholics from *another* small, rural parish like ours, then there were some Knights of Columbus, and some Protestants, God bless ‘em. The Rally was very poorly attended in general. :-(
obviously everyone should know about this. thankyou for the article!
John, “The major news networks are really faced with a moral decision: Should I report on news that is in conflict…...”
.
It used to be taught in journalism school that objectivity was one of the desireable features of a news story. That concept seems to have been lost.
Alice has a very good insight on the absence of the Protestants here. Actually, they are opposed to us, and I know, and have been surprised by the intensity of their anger on the idea that institutions like catholic charities are being funded with their tax dollars and there are growing Protestant sermons on this a clear legacy of all this will be a return of anti-Catholicism among Protestants. Perhaps in retrospect the bishops should have emulated our grandparents, many immigrants, who built Catholic institutions without making them government dependencies.
Dr. Kengor has given us a clear instance of Ronald Reagan the gentleman. But Reagan was a man who belonged to no church, followed astrologers, was the first governor to sign an abortion bill and put effectively pro abortion justices on the supreme Court. While I agree with dr mentor he may have a good heart, honesty compels us to admit that he did great damage to Christian ideals, too, eve if, unintentionally.
One of the things I pray for is that the Pope will someday soon say ” We as Roman Catholics believe this…...if you do not agree the Unitarians are over there. “
@John, while all the media may have an agenda, the problem is that virtually all the media has varying degrees of left-wing bias; if there were equal representation of viewpoints across the various outlets, it would be less of a problem. I frankly don’t care that they have an opinion (since we all do anyway), but they should disclose that opinion. For example, a media outlet should report the percentage of their staff that vote Democrat and Republican.
@Joseph
“honesty compels us to admit that he did great damage to Christian ideals….”
And what “ideals” are you talking about?
Dear still believe, the ideal or principle that abortion is an evil and ought not be tolerated in law is a main one and that one should only appoint judges who believe that, ie, not Sandra Day O’Connor or Anthony Kennedy. Another is the idea of the acceptability of divorce, which became much more common in the eighties, and which his own two marriages stood as an example. I do give president Reagan exceptional marks for one ideal, that nuclear weapons are an evil and should be eliminated which is what he sought with his anti-middle programs A tragedy that he was vilified and mocked for this, I.e. star wars, and ultimately not supported by his own political party. A great historical opportunity. Anyway best wishes to you, still believe.
Objectivity and proper conduct are rare aspects in journalism (as is the case in the legal and medical professions!). Heck! It is even rare to find journalism adhering to even their own rule of ethics - let alone moral conduct! Ideologies v Religion is the state of play and censorship (if we haven’t already got to this stage) aids the dominance of the former.
Barbara McDonnell, 9 minutes on Hardball with wacky Chris Matthews is not “media coverage”. All the main stream media basically ignored this issue. I also agree with the many commentors who say their local churches are not speaking openly about this issue. The only “ray of hope” that I can offer is that the 20 year olds are not watching the local news programs and viewership has dropped- significantly for CNN and MSNBC. People are turning away from the main steam media because they cannot be trusted. There are more people out there that are not being fooled by these dishonest tactics of reporting only the news that the liberal media wants us to know. There are a lot of us who are informed and we are sharing our information via the internet. Jesus told us to have hope- we need to trust in Him and not despair- but be proactive! Share your knowledge with family, friends, and people you encounter daily. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers. Knowledge is power.
@Joesph
Reagan did not appoint pro-abortion justices on the supreme court, Antonin Scalia has always voted pro-life, He nominated Robert Bork who was smeard by the democrats, led by Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden, mainly because he had spoken a few times about the evil of abortion and was ultimately voted down and Reagan than appointed Anthony Kennedy. His other appointee was Sandra Day O’Conner who seemed to be pro-life at the time but didn’t pan out that way.
It might help in the discussion if people would realize that whoever was bishop 40 years ago may very likely have already appeared before the Judgment Seat, and those who were bishop of a diocese 20 years ago are either retired or very close to it. The bishops we have now are cleaning up the mess of those who have gone before, so rather than damn with faint praise the current ones, perhaps we should be breathing a sigh of relief and a prayer for those who re on the battle lines.
Barbara McDonnell: Hardball is on MSNBC. The writer was referring to the big 3 networks, and MSNBC isn’t one of them.
Is it possible that this administration & the media could be doing US Catholics a favor? It looks like we are uniting to fight a govt. that trys to take away our religious freedom. Let us “fight the good fight”.
Let’s all pray for Cardinal Dolan. He is trying to change the conference of bishops. It’s not his fault for the liberal policies and damage caused by Cardinal Bernandin. I agree that there should be more homilies on this issue or at least pray for our victory in the intercessary intentions. Youth Care, God bless you. You give me hope for the future.
If Tim Russert we’re still alive he’d be sure to make it headlines.
@Joesph
Again, “honesty compels us to admit that he did great damage to Christian ideals….”
Ronald Reagan did sign the first legislation in CA to legalize abortion on the grounds of “Christian teaching of self-defense.” If a person is attacked they have a right to defend themselves. If a woman’s life was threatened by a pregnancy, Reagan thought she had a right to protect her life and end the pregnancy. He thought the same way if the woman was raped, she had the right to end a pregnancy that may have resulted by the attack. That the legislation he signed was taken way beyond what he thought and was told he was signing caused him to regret ever signing it. His appointment of the Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court, passed the Senate 99-0 with one member not voting. I grant she turned out years later to be a disappointment on the issue of Roe v Wade, but as a nominee she was well qualified and pretty conservative in her judicial rulings and well as in her life. As far as Anthony Kennedy, he was Reagan’s third pick in trying to fill a void on the Supreme Court. The Democrats attacked his first pick so viciously over his “originalist” view of the Constitution and their fear of his probable support for overturning Roe v Wade it coined a new word - “borked.” His second pick withdrew his nomination after admitting to having used marijuana. Kennedy had less visible things to attack, which became the norm for getting Republican nominees through the nomination process.
As for divorce, Reagan was divorced only once. It was a divorce he did not want and was sorry that it happened. His ex-wife, who was married twice before, married twice more afterwards, each lasting just a few years.
I think it is not true to say those actions “did great damage to Christian ideals.” And I think it is unfair to say so.
@Joesph
One more thing, President Reagan didn’t follow astrologers, Nancy, his wife did. As far as President Reagan going to church, he opted not to attend a church because of the difficulty it causes for every one attending. I don’t know about his church attendance before or after his presidency.
Howard and mom of 2: No, I was not being sarcastic about watching MSNBC’s take on the lawsuit. I watch news and commentaries on all the stations to develop a balanced view. In addition to MSNBC’s 9 minutes on the topic, PBS spent 8.7 minutes and Fox spent 5.5 minutes. Why would I limit my viewing to only the 3 news corporations cited in the blog if I want to form an unbiased opinion on issues? I think the writer of the blog was biased & misleading in limiting his comments to only those 3 since cable news is widely viewed and PBS tries to present all sides of issues.
Why don’t those of us who care write CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News, and ask them to report and discuss this on their programs. We can tell them we heard about this lawsuit and we want to know more about it. If a large amount of us flood them with emails then maybe they would see that there is an interest. We don’t need to say what religion we are or anything. As long as we sit here and complain nothing will get done or change.
News media, secular, ahteist, liberal. Go figure.
Dissident Catholic politicians, puppets to the Obama regime.
Catholic parish parking lots with cars wearing Obama bumper stickers. Total imbecility.
Wake up America. watch the movie “For Greater Glory”. We may be next.
I find it pathetic that most Bishops and priests are deliberately ignoring the HHS mandate issue. They are demonstrating that they are for the HHS Mandate.
No. The media does not care what the Bishops do and keep in mind not all the Bishops are united anyway. Some in the media will give voice to the Bishop’s concerns but the great majority do not care. Research shows approximately 88% of the media are largely unchurched. So what do you expect? It is also not helpful that Bishops typically only sign letters and never get in front of a camera or grant local interviews by print media. How come so many of our Bishops have an image of weakness?
How’s this for media bias:
1) Remember all the headlines and segments referring to the high gasoline prices at the end of the Bush Presidency? Gasoline costs were less than $2/gallon in 2008. Now that gas prices have doubled under the Obama Administration, the elite media doesn’t make that big a deal out of it. In fact, the networks had 4 times as many stories on high gas prices under Bush than they do now under Obama (according to the Media Research Center).
2) Remember all the front page articles and stories about the troops killed in Afghanistan under George Bush? Well, there were 575 under Bush, and more than 1,300 troops killed under President Obama.
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