{"id":6942,"date":"2014-07-15T18:02:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T18:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/bishop-hobby-lobby-case-shows-need-to-fight-secularism-43480\/"},"modified":"2014-07-15T18:02:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T18:02:00","slug":"bishop-hobby-lobby-case-shows-need-to-fight-secularism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/bishop-hobby-lobby-case-shows-need-to-fight-secularism\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop: Hobby Lobby case shows need to fight secularism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Lincoln, Neb., Jul 15, 2014 \/ 12:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Despite the recent Hobby Lobby court victory, Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb. stressed the need for Catholics to continue to evangelize and fight against the prevailing culture of secularism.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe victory is not unqualified and the fight for our religious liberty is not complete. Churches, hospitals, and universities are still threatened by the HHS contraceptive mandate,\u201d Bishop Conley said in his July 11 archdiocesan column.<\/p>\n

\tOn June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby and similar employers cannot be forced to comply with the federal contraception mandate against their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

\tCraft giant Hobby Lobby and its owners, the Green family, had challenged a federal mandate issued under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which requires employers to offer health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and some drugs that can cause early abortions.<\/p>\n

\tThe Greens said that mandate would require them to violate their deeply-held Christian beliefs against facilitating abortion.<\/p>\n

\tIn his column, Bishop Conley said the repercussions of the Hobby Lobby decision have indeed established that \u201cbelievers have a place in the public square \u2013 that all of us should be free to conduct our business without compromising our basic moral beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHowever, the Supreme Court decision also relayed the overwhelming assertions of secularists, \u201cwhose loyalties lie more closely with unfettered sexual libertinism than with respect for fundamental rights of conscience, of religion, or of personal dignity,\u201d the bishop said.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough the fight for religious freedom in litigation is important, Bishop Conley suggested that the root issue is secularism.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cReligious liberty will be threatened in our nation as long as secularism is the prevailing cultural leitmotif.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Hobby Lobby decision has exposed the secular tendency towards atheocracy \u2013 the systematic hostility and marginalization of religious believers who engage in American public life, a kind of practical atheism established as the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSocial cohesion has become a higher priority than religious freedom, due to the hostility towards faith in the public arena, the bishop reflected.<\/p>\n

\tIn his apostolic exhortation \u201cEvangelii Gaudium,\u201d Pope Francis suggests an alternative to a secularist culture by emphasizing the importance of a society marked by faith.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAn evangelized popular culture contains values of faith and solidarity capable of encouraging the development of a more just and believing society, and possesses a particular wisdom which ought to be gratefully acknowledged,\u201d Pope Francis observed.<\/p>\n

\tThe Holy Father went on to say that \u201cjustice is the fruit of faith,\u201d and that \u201can evangelized culture will be a just culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWith the rise of religious persecution all over the world, the evangelization of culture is an unprecedented priority.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough religious liberty is not an end in itself, Bishop Conley stressed that it \u201cis the freedom for something real \u2013 the freedom to make disciples of all nations \u2013 to spread the Gospel, and its fruits, joyfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIf we want to protect our religious liberty,\u201d Bishop Conley went on to say, \u201cthe very best thing we can do is to use it \u2013 to transform culture by transforming hearts for Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Lincoln, Neb., Jul 15, 2014 \/ 12:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite the recent Hobby Lobby court victory, Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Neb. stressed the need for Catholics to continue to evangelize and fight against the prevailing culture of secular…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop: Hobby Lobby case shows need to fight secularism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lincoln, Neb., Jul 15, 2014 \/ 12:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite the recent Hobby Lobby court victory, Bishop James D. 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