San Francisco's 'Anti-Catholic' Resolution Prompts Lawsuit

San Francisco's 'Anti-Catholic' Resolution Prompts Lawsuit By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor April 05, 2006 (CNSNews.com) - A conservative public interest law firm is suing the city of San Francisco for its "startling attack" on the Catholic Church. The lawsuit stems from an "anti-Catholic" resolution passed unanimously last month by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The resolution, according to the Thomas More Law Center, condemned the Catholic Church's moral teachings on homosexuality and urged Catholic leaders to defy Vatican directives telling Catholic agencies not to place children with same-sex couples. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens, said the nonbinding resolution violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. San Francisco supervisors passed the resolution on March 21 after the Vatican's Cardinal-elect William Levada -- the former San Francisco archbishop -- said Catholic agencies "should not place children for adoption in homosexual households." The resolution reads, "It is an insult to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican, meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and established customs and traditions, such as the right of same-sex couples to adopt and care for children in need." The resolution called Vatican directives against homosexual adoptions "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric [that] is both insulting and callous, and shows a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered by this Board of Supervisors." The resolution also called Levada "a decidedly unqualified representative of his former home city and of the people of San Francisco and the values they hold dear." Anti-Catholic bigotry Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said the resolution's "demagoguery and virulent words...are reminiscent of the anti-Catholic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothings, which marred our nation's earlier history. San Francisco may as well have put up signs at the city limits: 'Faithful Catholics Not Welcomed," he added. A 2003 Vatican statement said that "allowing children to be adopted by [same-sex couples] would actually mean doing violence to these children." According to the Law Center, the Vatican was trying to say that homosexual adoptions are not conducive to a child's full human development. The lawsuit claims that the March 21 resolution "sends a clear message" to faithful Catholics "that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community," and it sends a second message -- "that those who oppose Catholic religious beliefs, particularly with regard to homosexual unions and adoptions by homosexual partners, are insiders, favored members of the political community." Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case, noted that the U.S. Constitution forbids hostility toward any religion. He said in San Francisco, "homosexual activists... are abusing their authority as government officials and misusing the instruments of government to attack the Catholic Church. "This egregious abuse of power is an outrage and a clear violation of the First Amendment," Muise said. The Thomas More Law Center describes its mission as the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.

Shok

It's ironic that San Francisco is named after St. Francis...

I just can't seem to be surprised anymore by the strange behavior that comes from SF.

Funny how that Church/State thing only cuts one way with these lunatics.

I saw recently that another 783 charges of molestation against Catholic priests have surfaced.IIRC they have paid close to two billion in claims already.

This makes it look like a child is just as safe or perhaps more safe in the care of a homosexual couple as compared to the care of some Catholic priests.

I do not approve of homosexual adoptions but I think the Catholics have a big obstacle to overcome.

Quoted: I saw recently that another 783 charges of molestation against Catholic priests have surfaced.IIRC they have paid close to two billion in claims already. This makes it look like a child is just as safe or perhaps more safe in the care of a homosexual couple as compared to the care of some Catholic priests. I do not approve of homosexual adoptions but I think the Catholics have a big obstacle to overcome.

I don't really think this thread is the time or the place for this discussion regarding the Church.  I'd like to see the number of instances among the general population and put them into percentages to see if your claim is founded.  There have been plenty of abuse scandals among public schools, private schools, straight families, gay "families", etc. to really make that statement mean anything.There have been plenty of abuse scandals for protestant churches too, but it's hard to blame "the man" since protestantism is so fractured and is not a large organization like the Catholic Church.

The idea is that San Fran is so "open" and "accepting" and "tolerant" and they force their ideas on us, but when it comes to something THEY don't agree with they are not accepting OR tolerant.  Their ideas are great when it suits them, but don't apply when they don't agree.

Quoted: I saw recently that another 783 charges of molestation against Catholic priests have surfaced.IIRC they have paid close to two billion in claims already. This makes it look like a child is just as safe or perhaps more safe in the care of a homosexual couple as compared to the care of some Catholic priests. I do not approve of homosexual adoptions but I think the Catholics have a big obstacle to overcome.

It must be time for the 'Idiot Post of The Week' and I see that the OldGuy hasn't kept us waiting too long.

Thanks!

Eric The(Chuckling)Hun

Yes, they are open and tolerant, unless you happen to be, straight, white, christian, patriotic,or even a tiny bit conservative.

Quoted: Quoted: I saw recently that another 783 charges of molestation against Catholic priests have surfaced.IIRC they have paid close to two billion in claims already. This makes it look like a child is just as safe or perhaps more safe in the care of a homosexual couple as compared to the care of some Catholic priests. I do not approve of homosexual adoptions but I think the Catholics have a big obstacle to overcome. I don't really think this thread is the time or the place for this discussion regarding the Church.  I'd like to see the number of instances among the general population and put them into percentages to see if your claim is founded.  There have been plenty of abuse scandals among public schools, private schools, straight families, gay "families", etc. to really make that statement mean anything.There have been plenty of abuse scandals for protestant churches too, but it's hard to blame "the man" since protestantism is so fractured and is not a large organization like the Catholic Church. What claim? See red. The Catholics should be the last people to lecture anyone on child safety, they have failed children miserably. In their defense, I doubt any other group would meet with much success in San Francisco The idea is that San Fran is so "open" and "accepting" and "tolerant" and they force their ideas on us, but when it comes to something THEY don't agree with they are not accepting OR tolerant.  Their ideas are great when it suits them, but don't apply when they don't agree.

I wonder how open and accepting and tolerant that Catholic city in Florida will be? Perhaps if enough Christians move to South Carolina it will become more open, accepting and tolerant too.

Quoted: [It must be time for the 'Idiot Post of The Week' and I see that the OldGuy hasn't kept us waiting too long. Thanks! Eric The(Chuckling)Hun

You are welcome.

Good to know I still command your attention, good, bad or indifferent.

Quoted: I saw recently that another 783 charges of molestation against Catholic priests have surfaced.IIRC they have paid close to two billion in claims already. This makes it look like a child is just as safe or perhaps more safe in the care of a homosexual couple as compared to the care of some Catholic priests. I do not approve of homosexual adoptions but I think the Catholics have a big obstacle to overcome.

Here are some facts for you. About 2-3% of priests abused children. About 1-2% of the general population abuse children. Of all the abuse of children done by priests, some 90% of it was done by homosexuals.

www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter032102.asp

Despite the growing media consensus that Catholicism causes sodomy, an alternative view -- adopted by the Boy Scouts -- is that sodomites cause sodomy. (Assume all the usual disclaimers here about most gay men not molesting boys, most Muslims being peaceful, and so on.)

It is a fact that the vast majority of the abuser priests -- more than 90 percent -- are accused of molesting teen-age boys. Indeed, the overwhelmingly homosexual nature of the abuse prompted The New York Times to engage in its classic "Where's Waldo" reporting style, in which the sex of the victims is studiedly hidden amid a torrent of genderless words, such as the "teen-ager," the "former student," the "victim" and the "accuser."