Politics

WASHINGTON -- Responding to fresh controversy over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, a group of Catholic elder statesmen on Wednesday called for more civility in politics, saying Catholics have been subjected to similar scrutiny.

Speaking as "Catholic citizens of different political persuasions," the signers urged "not only (that) civility be maintained in the public discourse but that all inclinations to raise the issue of personal religious affiliation be avoided."

The statement comes in the wake of a Dallas megachurch pastor and Rick Perry supporter who called Mormonism a "cult" and said Christians should give preference to Christian candidates.

"Catholics in the U.S. have experienced a long history of discrimination in the political life ... and so as a result, understandably, we Catholics are particularly sensitive to the issue," said Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at the Catholic University of America and an outspoken supporter of President Obama.
The 37 signatories of the statement included several former U.S. ambassadors to the Vatican, retired lawmakers and university presidents.

WASHINGTON -- A famously litigious lawyer has filed charges against the Catholic University of America (CUA) for not providing Muslim students with prayer rooms that are free of Catholic iconography.

John F. Banzhaf III, a law professor at George Washington University who had earlier filed charges over CUA's switch to same-sex dorms this summer, filed the new 60-page complaint with the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights.

"It shouldn't be too difficult somewhere on the campus for the university to set aside a small room where Muslims can pray without having to stare up and be looked down upon by a cross of Jesus," Banzhaf told Fox News.

Banzhaf complained that CUA does not sponsor a Muslim student association, even though it sponsors a Jewish one. He also claimed the single-sex dorm policy discriminates against female students.

The university, whose Arab student population swelled from 56 in 2007 to 122 this year, sponsors an Arab American Association, founded this fall by Muslim student Wiaam Al Salmi.

Editorial

The U.S. bishops sounded an unusual alarm with the formation recently of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty to deal with what Catholic leaders term “unprecedented threats” to the freedom of faith communities as a result of Obama administration policies.

If the tone of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s letter announcing the committee is somewhat breathless and exaggerated, he nonetheless raises a valid point: No religious group that is otherwise not breaking a law should receive mandates from the federal government requiring it to go against its conscience.

Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, lists six areas of concern about state interference, most of them having to do with sexual issues. Some of them present greater difficulty than others in making the case for religious exceptions.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House Oct. 13 passed the Protect Life Act, which applies long-standing federal policies on abortion funding and conscience rights to the health reform law.

The measure passed with a bipartisan vote of 251 to 172. Its chief sponsors were Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., who co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. The bill also had 144 co-sponsors.

"The health care law made it clear that the current way we prevent taxpayer funding of abortion through annual riders is dangerously fragile," Lipinski said in January when the measure was introduced. "We must take action to prevent federal funding for abortion under the health care law and throughout the government, without exception."

In a statement released Oct. 14, Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the U.S. bishop's pro-life secretariat, said that by passing H.R. 358, "the House has taken an important step toward authentic health care reform that respects the dignity of all, from conception onward."

McQuade urged the Senate to likewise "help make health care reform life-affirming."