In the battle between Charity and Indulgence, Indulgence has won

Am I alone in my suspicion that the Obama Administration likes these "sisters"



more than these sisters:



Because, of course, this work:



is so much more beneficial to society

 than this work:


Nah. What could give me that idea?

It might be that the Administration has issued at least 729 waivers to Obamacare mandates to unions, municipalities and corporations but is fighting the Little Sisters  and over 300 other plaintiffs all the way to the Supreme Court to enforce the mandate that they violate their religious believes and allow free birth control and abortifacients to be provided through their health insurance plans.

If it wins, the Administration will have the power to fine the Little Sisters out of their ministry to the indigent elderly people. Like it already has forced Catholic Charities out of providing adoption services.

Meanwhile, back at the DOJ: "Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government will recognize so-called “marriages” performed in Utah between persons of the same sex that even Utah itself does not recognize as marriage."

While "IRS/White House Collusion in the War on Religion"

And the list of people with faith being subject to compulsion to act contrary to the tenets of their faith continues to grow: "The Huguenins, who run Elane Photography, have no right to choose not to take on a same-sex wedding, according to the court.... A florist in Washington has been sued for declining to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding ceremony. A family-operated inn in Vermont was sued for supposedly declining to host a same-sex wedding reception on its premises. Cake makers in Oregon and Colorado have been sued for declining to create cakes for same-sex wedding ceremonies. A promotional printer in Kentucky has been sued for declining to print shirts for a local gay-pride festival."

They each face a variety of civil damages, fines and potential jail sentences. In each case, they face closing their businesses - and losing their livelihoods if they refuse to participate in events that they consider morally wrong.

Perhaps this is the sort of progress Obama had in mind in his Presidential Proclamation for LGBT Month, "This year, we celebrate LGBT Pride Month at a moment of great hope and progress, recognizing that more needs to be done."

I shudder to think what more he hopes for on this front, which the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Obama Administration seem to consider a sacred rite.

If it doesn't get printed in a newspaper, it isn't news, right?

Apparently the Washington Post thinks so. The threat to religious freedom isn't news, because, according to the WaPo, there is no threat.

I stumbled across this story, celebrating the election of a Hindu woman and a Buddist woman to Congress. Wonderful. Of course, they are both Democrats, which makes it more wonderful still for the WaPo writers. What the article chiefly celebrates is the decline of White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants in government and in America at large. With no real reason why this is worth celebrating except diversity is inherently good.

The author, Charles C. Haynes claims, "in 2012, religious minorities became newly visible and vocal in a society historically dominated by the symbols, values and leaders of the Protestant faith," but fails to mention the protests of the most visible, most vocal religious minority: the Catholic and Christian protests against erosion of religous liberty under ObamaCare and other HHS mandates. Must not be news when bishops, cardinals, universities, orders of religious, hospitals and even the Pope publicly oppose the policies of the current administration.

Nope. "The growing visibility and strength of America’s religious diversity is good news for religious freedom. The First Amendment affords legal protections, but it cannot fully prevent people in the majority from imposing social discrimination and political exclusion on those in the minority." The big news is that a couple of Democrats who are not Episcopalian or Baptist were elected to Congress.

Haynes goes on, "as domination of one faith recedes, freedom for all faiths and beliefs expands – moving us ever-closer to fulfilling the promise of religious liberty under the First Amendment."

Tell that to  the Green family, who own and operate the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores. They are Christian. They run their business according to their Christian principles, which include both providing for their employees and not paying for the intentional destruction of pre-born persons. The HHS Mandate under ObamaCare will force them to violate those principles or face up to 1.3 millions dollars per day in fines; which will no doubt destroy their business and put out of work the employees in more than 500 stores in 41 states.

That seems like a slightly bigger story than a couple of non-Christian Democrats being elected to Congress.

But not to the wisdom of the WaPo editorialists.

A search of the WaPo website on "Hobby Lobby" returned only five AP reports on the topic. Nothing by Post writers. Nothing beyond brief wire reports. It isn't news to the WaPo and its readers because it does not fit into their neat little view of how the world should be. It violates their reality therefore it doesn't exist.