Lawsuit Alleges City Resolution Labels Catholics as 'Outsiders'
by Jody Brown
April 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A resolution passed unanimously by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has prompted a lawsuit alleging the city officials have launched a "startling attack" on the Catholic Church, its teachings and beliefs, and its adherents.
On March 21, the Board of Supervisors voiced their approval of a resolution condemning Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality and urging the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy church directives prohibiting adoptions by homosexual households. According to the Thomas More Law Center, which has filed the lawsuit on behalf of two Catholic citizens of San Francisco and the Catholic League, Catholic doctrine states that allowing children to be adopted by homosexuals effectively places those children in an environment that is not "conducive to their full human development."
"[S]uch policies are gravely immoral and Catholic organizations [a reference to Catholic Charities] must not place children for adoption in homosexual households," says a Law Center press release.
In addition to calling on local Catholic leaders to defy church teachings, the Board's resolution alludes to the Vatican as a foreign country "meddling" in the city's affairs, and describes the church's moral teachings and beliefs as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," and "insulting and callous."
Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case, explains the rationale behind the lawsuit. "[The U.S. Constitution] forbids hostility toward any religion," he says. "In total disregard for the Constitution, homosexual activists in position of authority in San Francisco are abusing their authority as government officials and misusing the instruments of government to attack the Catholic Church."
He calls the Board's move an "abuse of power" and "a clear violation" of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.
The lawsuit alleges that the resolution adopted by the Board of Supervisors essentially tells not just the plaintiffs, but all those who adhere to the Catholic faith, that they are "outsiders" and "not full members of the political community." At the same time, says the lawsuit, the measure tells those who oppose Catholic doctrine regarding homosexual unions and adoption they are "insiders" and "favored members of the political community."
Says Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, "San Francisco may as well as have put up signs at [the] city limits [saying] 'Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed.'"
Catholic League president William Donohue agrees. "Make no mistake about it," he says. "Resident Catholics have been told, however indirectly, that the government does not look kindly on their right to publicly express their religion."
Donohue reminds the Board of Supervisors that the so-called "separation of church and state" is a two-way street.
"Imagine what would have happened if the Vatican had condemned the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 'meddling' in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church simply because the two entities disagreed on a public policy issue?" he wonders. "Separation of church and state cuts both ways."
He adds that when elected representatives accuse members of any religion of interfering in municipal affairs, the inevitable result is a "chilling effect on the rights of the faithful."
