Expand!

In the news: it seems that most Republican politicians won't vote to protect the rights to marriage equality or contraception. I watch the pundits on the tv news flummoxed at why Republicans would be against protecting such incredibly popular rights. I just want to yell at them ... "catholicism is why". The church has taught and continues to teach that marriage for gay people is wrong and that using contraception is wrong.

The church isn't just stating a viewpoint, though. It has for decades tried to change our laws through political lobbying and bringing suits. The church has spent a lot of time and money trying to keep gay people from marrying (Church lobbying effective in NJ same-sex marriage debate ... Most U.S. Catholics Back Marriage Equality, But Knights of Columbus Pour Millions into Opposition ... Political activity of the Catholic Church on LGBT issues), and to keep women from being able to access contraception (Hobby Lobby decision and Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania).

And of course, btw, the church has spent millions of ddollars lobbying against the loosening of statutes of limitation that would allow victims of clergy sex abuse to sue them: Catholic Church spent $10.6 million to lobby against legislation that would benefit victims of child sex abuse.

And this effort has worked out for the church. it's no coincidence that the majority of Supreme Court Justices who overturned Roe are Catholic. It's no coincidence that the Justice who has threatened to overturn marriage equality and the right to contraception is Catholic.

The irony is that while the Catholic church stands on the brink of forcing its minority religious teachings on our whole country, it has failed utterly to convince its own members on these issues.

Mot Catholics support marriage equality for gay people (U.S. Catholics Have Backed Same-Sex Marriage Since 2011). And the number of Catholics who use contraception is virtually 100% (Pew: More than nine-in-ten [Catholic] adults think using birth control is either morally acceptable (36%) or not a moral issue at all (57%); just 4% say using contraception is morally wrong.).

Expanding the Court is the only way I can see to keep the religiously extremist Justices from dragging our country back to the metaphorical Dark Ages.