What is happening to the separation of church and state in the United States? It’s not only the fundamentalist Christians who are meddling in our politics, it’s the Catholic Church. 

Catholic Church bishops are still trying to impose their values on the rest of the United States. The Catholic Church is framing their opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights as a push for “religious liberty.” The bishops are apparently concerned that too many states now allow gay people to marry each other; they appear equally concerned that women still have the right to choose. 

The most disturbing aspect of the Catholic bishops position is that they are frustrated that the Justice Department is not listening to their pleas to be heard; it’s almost as if the Catholic Church would like to abolish the separation of church and state while eliminating any checks and balances that we may still have in the United States. 

According to this article in the New York Times, many bishops are increasingly frustrated that they remain unheard since the sex abuse scandals broke out a few years ago. In the past, the bishops had more of a meaningful role in the nation’s dialog with the government about several issues of importance to the Catholic Church. 

The ugly truth about the Catholic Church’s primary issues today is that they don’t just impact the members of the Catholic church, but everyone. Why should Americans be subject to the laws of a faith that has been long considered too political? How is being against same-sex marriage and access to abortion really “religious liberty?” 

The last time I checked, no one is trying to force anyone to marry a person of the same sex, nor are they trying force anyone to get an abortion who doesn’t want one. If either of those situations were the case, that would indeed be an infringement on the “religious liberty” of the Catholics. 

But it’s not. 

The Catholic Church is still a strong force in the political landscape of the United States. Again, as reported by the New York Times, Catholic Church lobbyists--who are also supposed to be against poverty--did their best to make sure that President Barack Obama’s health care reform legislation wouldn’t pass. This is also hard to understand because more poverty-stricken individuals lack access to health care than the other way around.