Tag Archives: Robert Porath

Church and State

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To the Editor:
    The current pressure on the Catholic Church to comply with federal law is not unprecedented.  In 1895, in order to attain statehood, the Territory of Utah abandoned the Mormon Church’s sanction of polygamy, although it is still practiced by break-away sects.  If  the Catholic ban on insurance coverage for contraception falls under the umbrella of religious freedom, shouldn’t also Mormon polygamy, Evangelical refusal of inoculation against communicable diseases or medical care for sick children, or, for that matter, Islamic Sharia Law?  This is not an intrusion into religious belief.  Catholic women may act as they see fit, but insurance policy must meet federal standards.
RP

Discourse

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To the Editor:

On the surface, much of today’s divided political argument boils down to a disagreement over a preferred order of virtues. Should frugality and self-reliance or generosity and community be first in people’s hearts? All in all a sort of a silly question, but virtues carried to extremes do become vices and, with our penchant for projecting negativity onto “others”, the argument becomes pig-headed selfishness versus enabling airheadedness and everyone ends up yelling at one another. Perhaps better discourse would result if both sides were to admit both the positive and the negative we all have within ourselves and work then for the good of all, but isn’t it really about our confused and convoluted relationship with the concept of having power?

RP

From the cabin in Meredith, CO