Democrats are again trying to pry some of the religious vote from Republicans, but their actions expose the insincerity of their approach.
The latest example involves an order of Catholic nuns in Hawthorne, New York, who care for the terminally ill. The Washington Times reports the nuns are suing New York State over a transgender rights law that requires nursing homes "to use pronouns, assign rooms and allow restrooms access based on a patient's gender identity, or risk jail time." The New York Department of Health also requires facilities to "create communities" that affirm patients' sexual preferences and "accommodate patients' desire for extramarital relations." Fines of up to $2,000 would be assessed for the first violation and up to $5,000 for repeat violations. "Willful violations" can result in fines up to $10,000 or one year in prison.
The nuns argue that all such requirements violate their religious beliefs. The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne has been around for 125 years and runs the Rosary Hill Home. Mother Marie Edward, the general manager of the Hawthorne Dominicans, issued a statement: "We sisters have taken care of patients from all walks of life, ideologies and faiths. We treat each patient with dignity and Christian charity. We have never had complaints."
Apparently, not having complaints is of no concern to secular and liberal Democrats who seem to be doing all they can to undermine what has been considered normative behavior for millennia.
Have Democrats forgotten the Little Sisters of the Poor? In 2011, the Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services issued a federal mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act. It required employers to provide contraceptives in their health insurance plans. Certain secular companies were exempted, including Exxon, Pepsi Bottling, and Visa. HHS included a narrow religious exemption, but not for nonprofits like the Little Sisters. The order was threatened with fines of tens of millions of dollars if they failed to comply.
The Little Sisters sued and lost in one court after another. Eventually, they won at the Supreme Court. In 2017, President Trump issued an executive order directing HHS and other federal agencies to protect the Little Sisters and other religious nonprofits from the mandate, demonstrating how important it is to have a president who protects religious freedom.
Those who believe God made us "male and female" know where biblical standards come from, but what about other standards, or are there any standards when it comes to behavior? Are we supposed to believe that government is God and all are required to worship at the government "altar," whether in Albany or Washington? If standards are constantly shifting, they cannot be standards.
The late Catholic theologian Bishop Fulton J. Sheen believed that moral standards are absolute and rooted in divine law rather than subjective social trends. Sheen warned against a "false compassion" that erodes such standards when we sympathize with wrongdoing. "If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave," he said. Sheen believed that without objective, external standards of right and wrong, society collapses into moral confusion. This is the condition of modern America.
If there remains no standard for distinguishing right from wrong – other than opinion polls and legal jujitsu – what can be considered as always right and always wrong?
Based on the outcome of the Little Sisters case, the New York nuns should have no problem winning their lawsuit. Be warned, though, because secular Democrats never give up.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas' latest book, "A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).
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