Denver Catholic

10 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2020 | DENVER CATHOLIC In accordance with Colorado health guidelines, it will be held virtually from the safety of your own home. Go to fopwalk.org, register under Colorado and donate on-line. Your donation will be matched up to $5000 by an anonymous donor. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Virtual Walk for the Poor Help the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul feed, clothe and shelter Colorado's poor. aspects of Gospel morality for the sake of politi- cal influence. While Kennedy's words about "absolute sep- aration" sound like wisdom and inspiration, the precedence they established has developed a ready-made justification for Catholic politicians becoming some of the greatest advocates and defenders of secular ethics in the public square. Is it not ironic that, while Kennedy refused to impose the Church's teaching on "birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other sub- ject," we now enjoy Catholic politicians leading the charge for state funded contraception, abor- tion on demand and coercive government man- dates defining the meaning of "hate speech" toward the LGBTQ+ community? This is not religious liberty, it's a new dogma of secular, state sponsored religiosity. Perhaps without intending this outcome, the privatiza- tion of faith has ended up making the state a god, our secular laws a quasi-religious mandate of conscience, and the citizenry a people sub- ject to the politics of powerful groups who have deeply negative biases toward a Christian view of the human person. T H E R E S U LT S O F CO N CE D I N G T H E P U B L I C S QUA R E Here, then, is the most important lesson to learn from this history of privatizing faith and secularization. Government never actually remains "neutral" on issues of religion, espe- cially ethics—even if it tries. Religion is not a private affair ever, or a purely subjective and psychological phenomenon. State based neu- trality about religion is itself a cover for other ethical convictions that become law. For example, take the Little Sisters of the Poor, who were and may again be forced to pay for and provide contraception coverage to their employees through the HHS mandate. Another example is the baker, Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado. The Civil This is not separation of church and state, it's a new dogma of secular, state sponsored religiosity. Perhaps without intending this outcome, the privatization of faith has ended up making the state a god ..."

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