Attacks on religious freedom are ramping up as an online petition was launched to request that the White House designate the Catholic Church as a “hate group” for its opposition to same-sex marriage.
According to CNA/EWTNNews, a group in favor of homosexual marriage initiated a petition drive on Christmas Day which accused Pope Benedict XVI as demeaning and belittling homosexual people around the world in his 2012 Christmas address to the College of Cardinals.
“Using hateful language and discriminatory remarks, the Pope painted a portrait in which gay people are second-class global citizens,” the petition reads. “Pope Benedict said that gay people starting families are threatening to society, and that gay parents objectify and take away the dignity of children.The Pope also implied that gay families are sub-human, as they are not dignified in the eyes of God.”
It asks the Obama administration to recognize the Catholic Church as a hate group, as defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
The petition, which is aiming for 25,000 signatures by January 24, has barely garnered 2,000 signatures to date, but has drawn intense criticism from all corners for generating unjust animosity toward the Church and Catholics simply because of their beliefs.
Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. told CNA that applying the “hate group” label to organizations that are morally opposed to same-sex marriage is simply “name calling designed to cut us out of the public debate.”
It also reveals an underlying agenda which is not to prevent violent crimes, but to “stigmatize any disapproval of homosexuality at all and essentially to silence us.”
Sprigg also points out that the petition is distorting the Pope’s words, which included no hateful or discriminatory language. In fact, he never mentioned the words “homosexuality” or “gay marriage” but merely defended the Church’s understanding of sexuality as “the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child.”
Labeling groups can also be dangerous, as evidenced last August when a 28 year-old Virginia man shot a security guard inside the Family Research Council headquarters, an organization that supports traditional values but was labeled as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Pope Benedict XVI addressed this kind of hostile behavior, which he called “intolerant agnosticism,” in a homily on Sunday. Speaking to about 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica while ordaining four new Archbishops, he firmly rejected any suggestion that the Church change its positions to suit public opinion.
“Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking. The approval of the prevailing wisdom, however, is not the criterion to which we submit,” he said.
“Today’s regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs,” the Pope said.
Therefore, much courage is needed “to contradict the prevailing mindset” he said.
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