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The Indiana bishops' statement is a model of moderation, albeit a bit vague in the circumstances. A friend called my attention to a particular item of Church teaching that is more clear on this subject, and might usefully be considered by those who thing we should keep digging in, #422 from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
422. Freedom of conscience and religion “concerns man both individually and socially”.[861] The right to religious freedom must be recognized in the juridical order and sanctioned as a civil right; nonetheless, it is not of itself an unlimited right. The just limits of the exercise of religious freedom must be determined in each social situation with political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority through legal norms consistent with the objective moral order. Such norms are required by “the need for the effective safeguarding of the rights of all citizens and for the peaceful settlement of conflicts of rights, also by the need for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which comes about when men live together in good order and in true justice, and finally by the need for a proper guardianship of public morality”.
The strangest meme to come from the right is the criticism of the hypocrisy of corporations, leveled here by Carly Fiorina, threatening to pull out of Indiana even though they are continuing to do business in countries like Saudi Arabia and China. I thought conservatives were the ones who resented moral relativism.
And, Sen. Ted Cruz is doubling down. Dear bishops - ask yourselves - do you think this is a good idea?
