Bishops Sue State to Block Coverage for Birth Control.   The back-asswardness of the Catholic Church continues to amaze me.  This seems to be a really important, forward-looking change to how women are treated and the Catholic Church wants to remove it.  They call it an "outrageous law" and claim that it is an "unprecedented intrusion on our religious rights." 

Ummmm no it isn't.  You can still practice your back-asswards, 14th century idea of a religion anytime you want.  That's what a right is.  An intrusion into your religious rights would be if the State of New York outlawed Catholicism (which is funny to think about) or came into your church and heckled you while you worshipped.   Requiring you to provide insurance that covers birth control coverage isn't an intrusion.  If you don't like it, don't hire people who aren't Catholic or don't provide health insurance.  See how fast you keep people hired.

I know that the Church preaches abstinence and that seems like a really great idea.  But it frustrates me that they (and not just Catholics but all major monotheistic religions) continue to try and foist their idea of morality on the rest of us (a small minority I know).  Religion does not have a monopoly on morality even though if you asked the average Joe on the street, he would say they did.

And it's not like the Church only wants to apply this to single, sexually promiscuous women.  If my memory serves me correctly, they don't believe in any birth control even in marriage.   So if the Church had their way, a married Methodist woman working for a Catholic institution wouldn't have coverage for birth control.  Now that seems like an intrusion into rights based on religion, doesn't it?  It almost seems like a discrimination based on religious beliefs.  If my employer started requiring me to attend daily prayer sessions, he'd be breaking the law.  The Catholic Church seems like it wants to do the same thing, creating a huge loophole in what looks like a good law.

There seems to be a common idea in the religious leaders of major monotheistic religions that faith in whatever God you worship is a public event.  But it's not a public event anymore than your sexual choice is a public event.  When I meet a person, I wouldn't say "Hi my name is Brett and I love the Lord" anymore than I would say "Hi my name is Brett and I like to have sex with animals." (I don't by the way but thanks for asking.)  Both of those statements are equally offensive to me.

But Christ and Allah both called on his followers to convert the world to their respective religions.  And so the Church is called upon to try to subvert a law that would be a benefit to untold number of women.   It boggles my mind. . .

And don't even get me started on insurance covering vasectomies but not The Pill.  The double standards in our male-driven world also continue to boggle my mind. . .

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Ugh it's entirely too early to be up on New Year's Day and my motor skills are greatly impaired.  Much fun was had by all at Blue Fish last night, we had a group of 14 gals and guys enjoying good Japanese food.  I think nights with all-you-can-eat sushi should be avoided as the quality seems to have been slightly lower than the usual Blue Fish fare. 

Of course, I spent the passing of the New Year at home because everyone wanted to hang out at a friend's house and I wanted to go out.  So I got pouty and came home. . .just seems like New Year's should be spent out on the town. . .but what do I know. . .I have the headache to make it seem like I was out on the town. . .ugh. . .