Conscience is only for the Reasonable

"Kids take back seat to gay agenda" sayz The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby

(Hat tip to Amy Welborn.)

The gist:

For the political agenda driving this affair is the one favored by the Human Rights Campaign and its many allies in the media and state government: the normalization of homosexual adoption. So important is that agenda to its supporters that they will allow nothing to stand in its way -- not even the well-being of children in dire need of safe and loving families. Catholic Charities excels at arranging adoptions for children in foster care, particularly those who are older or handicapped, or who bear the scars of abuse or addiction. Yet the Human Rights Campaign and its friends would rather see this invaluable work come to an end than allow Catholic Charities to decline gay adoptions.

Note well: Catholic Charities made no effort to block same-sex couples from adopting. It asked no one to endorse its belief that homosexual adoption is wrong. It wanted only to go on finding loving parents for troubled children, without having to place any of those children in homes it deemed unsuitable. Gay or lesbian couples seeking to adopt would have remained free to do so through any other agency. In at least one Massachusetts diocese, in fact, the standing Catholic Charities policy had been to refer same-sex couples to other adoption agencies.

The church's request for a conscience clause should have been unobjectionable, at least to anyone whose priority is rescuing kids from foster care. Those who spurned that request out of hand must believe that adoption is designed primarily for the benefit of adults, not children. The end of Catholic Charities' involvement in adoption may suit the Human Rights Campaign. But it can only hurt the interests of the damaged and vulnerable children for whom Catholic Charities has long been a source of hope.

Is this a sign of things to come? In the name of nondiscrimination, will more states force religious organizations to swallow their principles or go out of business? Same-sex adoption is becoming increasingly common, but it is still highly controversial. Millions of Americans would readily agree that gay and lesbian couples can make loving parents, yet insist nevertheless that kids are better off with loving parents of both sexes. That is neither a radical view nor an intolerant one, but if the kneecapping of Catholic Charities is any indication, it may soon be forbidden.

When our human nature collides with our aspirations, we suffer from the law of unintended consequences. Unfortunately, one of the omnipresent flaws of our fallen nature is our denial addiction. We deny our participation in evil at every term. Therefore, if evil is committed, it's always committed by that one over there. Not me or mine. Oh, no; of course not! We're special.

The Reasonable Absolute Individualists at organizations like the Human Rights Campaign combine this unfortunate human tendency with an unfortunate political one. They place their hope in the accomplishment of a central organizer, usually the government. They honestly believe that government intervention will end evil. Their messianic hopes for an evenly income-distributed society rest on their confidence in government's right and ability to accomplish this. Their aspiration for an end to injustice falls into government's hands, too.

In their zeal, they'll marginalize anyone that opposes this agenda. After all, anyone that opposes government redistribution of income favors exploiting the poor. Therefore, they're evil. Anyone that opposes the government mandating quotas and the like favors racism. They're evil, too.

Not the just saviors of the world that have seen the light of Big Brother Looking Out. Oh, no. They're special.

After the calls for diversity and tolerance come the clamoring for coersion of the naysayers. After the praise of respecting different opinions come the suppression of opinions different from the praisers'. The right to follow one's conscience only applies to those that have formed their consciences on the Reasonable propositions of the Agenda. Everyone else must, with apologies to The Rock, know their role and shut their mouths! Get with the program or get to the camp.

The Catholic Church's right to institutionally follow the Lord's commandment to love must bow before the Reasonable Absolute Individualists. Fools must learn their proper place. Those that won't support the free pursuit of the One Thing that Matters had better get out of the way.

The Reasonable have spoken. The Commonwealth of Massachusset's decision to deny CC of Boston's request for a waiver is just the first message. More will follow.