{"id":7000,"date":"2014-07-21T22:47:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T22:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/bishops-executive-order-is-flawed-approach-to-discrimination-76016\/"},"modified":"2014-07-21T22:47:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T22:47:00","slug":"bishops-executive-order-is-flawed-approach-to-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/bishops-executive-order-is-flawed-approach-to-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops: Executive order is flawed approach to discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Washington D.C., Jul 21, 2014 \/ 04:47 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Leading U.S. bishops voiced strong criticism of an \u201cunprecedented and extreme\u201d new executive order, saying that it adds to discrimination problems rather than finding real solutions to them.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn the name of forbidding discrimination, this order implements discrimination,\u201d warned Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore and Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWith the stroke of a pen, it lends the economic power of the federal government to a deeply flawed understanding of human sexuality, to which faithful Catholics and many other people of faith will not assent,\u201d they said in a July 21 statement.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs a result, the order will exclude federal contractors precisely on the basis of their religious beliefs.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori is the chairman of the U.S. bishops\u2019 Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, and Bishop Malone chairs the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.<\/p>\n

\tThe bishops responded to President Barack Obama signing a July 21 executive order prohibiting what was described as discrimination based on \u201csexual orientation\u201d and \u201cgender identity.\u201d The president signed the order after efforts to pass a similar bill \u2013 the Employment Non-Discrimination Act \u2013 in Congress had repeatedly failed.<\/p>\n

\tDespite petitions from a wide variety of religious figures, the executive order did not include any religious exemption.<\/p>\n

\tConcerns had been voiced by vague terms included in the proposed legislation, which did not define the phrases \u201csexual orientation\u201d and \u201cgender identity.\u201d As a result, religious groups are worried that they may be disqualified from federal contracts unless they affirm same-sex partnerships as marriages against the teachings of their faith and pay for employees\u2019 transgender \u201ctransitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe U.S. bishops are among those who have opposed the executive order, particularly due to its lack of a religious exemption. They have emphasized the important role of religious freedom in allowing faith communities to contribute to the good of society.<\/p>\n

\tIn their July 21 statement, Archbishop Lori and Bishop Malone emphasized that \u201cthe Church strongly opposes\u2026unjust discrimination against those who experience a homosexual inclination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHowever, they continued, the Church distinguishes between attraction and behavior. Catholic teaching opposes \u201csexual conduct outside of marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe bishops cautioned that the \u201cexecutive order, as it regards federal government contractors, ignores the inclination\/conduct distinction in the undefined term \u2018sexual orientation.\u2019\u201d This could result in exclusion from federal contracts for those employers whose policies include \u201cmoral objections to extramarital sexual conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tFurthermore, the federally unprecedented \u201cgender identity\u201d clause is based upon a false idea that \u201cgender\u201d is merely a social or psychological construct totally separated from notions of biological sex, they said.<\/p>\n

\tIn practice, this could result in problems of privacy and association, they added. \u201cFor example, a biological male employee may be allowed to use the women\u2019s restroom or locker room provided by the employer because the male employee identifies as a female.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tArchbishop Lori and Bishop Malone pointed out that most states which have passed their own \u201csexual orientation\u201d and \u201cgender identity\u201d statutes have included protections for religious employers, as did the U.S. Senate in its version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIndeed, all prior versions of ENDA had at least some religious liberty protections,\u201d they said. \u201cBut the executive order is an anomaly in this regard, containing no religious liberty protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn this way, the order, which is fundamentally flawed in itself, also needlessly prefers conflict and exclusion over coexistence and cooperation,\u201d they lamented.<\/p>\n

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

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