I don’t like Michael Gerson very much, let alone his fellow columnist E.J. Dionne, but I have to thank them for opposing Obama’s latest attack on religious liberty. Commentary from someone I do like is here.
I am perhaps especially grateful to Gerson for his column, because he is an evangelical Protestant, and I fear that this issue will not get the attention from Protestants that it deserves. After all, they may think, what do we care if Obama forces Catholic organizations to pay for contraception? We don’t object to contraception; let the Catholics sort it out. But an attack on one part of the body of Christ is an attack on all. Obama’s attempt to give the federal government complete regulatory control over church hiring and firing was rebuffed by the Supreme Court, but it’s clear that eliminating religious freedom is a priority for him, given the extent to which he is taking political risk in order to advance that goal. Today it is Catholic hospitals and universities, tomorrow it may be evangelical radio stations, or Protestant schools, or reformed publishing houses.
The unity of the body of Christ should be enough reason for Protestants to stand with their Catholics brothers and sisters now, but if that is insufficient, self-interest should fill that gap. Obama and the left will be coming for you next.
