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It appears the Obama administration may be backing off a bit on its new controversial rule requiring faith-based groups to provide birth control and other reproductive services in health care coverage for employees

The Tribune Washington Bureau reports the White House on Tuesday “emphasized that the details of the mandate were not yet settled.”
 

“We’re going to continue to work with religious groups to try to allay their concerns as we implement a policy that provides this coverage to women across the country,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at his daily briefing, the Tribune Washington Bureau reports.

“But the comments were more a shift in emphasis than substance. Carney said President Obama remains committed to the policy, which requires some religious institutions to provide their employees with health insurance that covers contraceptives."

“The decision was denounced by Catholic leaders as a violation of religious freedom. Some Democrats, and now GOP candidates, also have weighed in. Conservative groups have accused the president of 'waging a war on religion.'”
 

Minnesota’s Catholic bishops have also recently weighed in on the controversy, urging parishioners to contact elected leaders in Washington in support of creating legislation to overturn the new rule.

The National Catholic Reporter reports that bishops may not be interested in potential compromises put forth so far:
 

A “key official in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the Hawaii bill — repeatedly cited in media commentary — would not resolve the conference’s concerns and would, in any case, be overridden by the federal rule,” NCR reports.

“I’ve reviewed the Hawaii law, and it’s not much of a compromise,” said Richard Doerflinger of the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities and the bishops’ chief lobbyist on life issues in the nation’s capital. “The Hawaii contraceptive mandate has many of the same features as the new federal mandate.”

“Like the federal rule, he said, the Hawaii bill “covers all FDA-approved ‘contraceptives’ (including drugs that can cause an abortion); and the religious exemption is very narrow (though it does not include the requirement that the religious organization serve only people of its own faith to be eligible).”



 

Leaders from different faiths groups gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to voice their opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to have a photo ID.

Close to 20 Twin Cities area religious leaders delivered a letter to state House and Senate leaders, which outlines the reasons why they believe such an amendment is a bad idea.

The proposed voter ID “seeks to reduce the number of people who participate in our democracy. Passage of the proposed referendum would primarily reduce voters of color, the elderly, students, poor and non-English-speaking voters,” according to the letter, which was signed by close to 75 religious leaders and dozens of others involved in the Twin Cities faith community.

“Effectively, this gives more influence to a smaller number of wealthy, privileged and primarily white voters,” the letter states.

Several faith leaders spoke during a news conference at the Capitol, expressing their disapproval for the proposal.

“It’s a major step back,” said Richard Chase, board president for the group Jewish Community Action. “This amendment discriminates against the poor and elderly. Making voting harder makes no sense.”

Republicans have introduced the photo ID concept as a constitutional amendment and believe they have the votes to put it on the November general election ballot. It would likely go into effect in the 2014 general election, if approved by voters.

State Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, and Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, have introduced the photo ID as a proposed constitutional amendment. Kiffmeyer argues requiring voters to show a photo ID will discourage fraud at the polls. She also believes elderly and other groups will not be disenfranchised with a photo ID requirement.

“It doesn’t disallow anything,” Kiffmeyer told the Star Tribune on Tuesday. “What it adds is a photo ID requirement. This is not an undue burden to have this requirement. I think we need to add a greater level of integrity to the voting process. It will strengthen the election system here in Minnesota.”

Here’s a copy of the letter delivered to legislative leaders:

Dear Legislative Leaders:

We, as people of faith in the state of Minnesota, urge you not to put a voter ID amendment on the ballot. People of faith believe that all human life is sacred. In virtually all faith traditions, God creates humans with dignity and value. God intends people to participate in the human community, and to be able to do so with inherent respect. We believe that democracy is most complete—and therefore most powerful—when it embraces people on the margins of society. We believe that democracy at its best engages participation from the most diverse and gifted gathering of God’s whole people.

In face of these values, the proposed voter ID referendum in Minnesota seeks to reduce the number of people who participate in our democracy. Passage of the proposed referendum would primarily reduce voters of color, the elderly, students, poor and non-English-speaking voters. Effectively this gives more influence to a smaller number of wealthy, privileged and primarily White voters.

Furthermore, passage of the referendum would effectively eliminate voting as a right, making it a privilege instead. People of faith recognize the proposed referendum as an attack on democracy, reducing participation rather than expanding it. It would also increase government expense and power, requiring an expanded system to evaluate and process voter IDs.

A deeply troubling implication recognized by people of faith is that the proposed referendum would reduce the number of people of color who could vote. One of the primary objectives of the civil rights campaign in the US was voter registration. In its attack on citizens’ right to vote, the proposed referendum seeks to increase “white power,” and would dangerously isolate White America from an increasingly diverse and gifted world. People of faith see the proposed referendum as profoundly cynical and backward.

Additionally, the proposed referendum would reduce the number of poor people who could vote, for it will be people of limited economic resource, limited time and limited mobility who will have most difficulty obtaining voter identification cards. By reducing the number of poor who vote, the proposed referendum seeks to increase the political power and influence of the wealthiest and most privileged classes of our society.

It is for these reasons that we urge our legislative leaders to not put the Voter ID amendment on the 2012 ballot and ensure that Minnesota continues a proud legacy of high voter turnout and participation in our democracy.
 

The Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches is searching for seniors and others, who need their homes painted as part of the nonprofit’s annual Metro Paint-A-Thon.

The charitable event is meant to physically assist low-income seniors and people with disabilities so they can live independently in their homes, according to a released statement from the Council of Churches. As part of the event, thousands of volunteers scrape, prime and paint homes at no cost to the homeowner.

The Metro Paint-A-Thon, which has been held since 1984 in more than 45 cities throughout the Twin Cities metro area, is scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 4-5, but the Council of Churches is already searching for homeowners to assist.

Since the event started, Metro Paint-A-Thon volunteers have painted more than 6,250 homes across the metro area, event organizers say.

To qualify for Paint-A-Thon, homeowners must:

 — Own and occupy a single-family home, in need of paint, but not in need of major repairs
 — Live in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington county
 — Be 60 years of age or older, or have a permanent physical disability (if under 60)
 — Meet monthly income guidelines

For more information, call the Metro Paint-A-Thon office at 612-276-1579. You can download an application at paintathon.gmcc.org. The deadline to apply is May 4.
 

Minnesota atheists are helping sponsor two Twin Cities billboards, which mimic anti-abortion billboards featuring images of cute babies and childish font — only with a much different message.

The billboards, which went up this week and come down Feb. 19, endorse the idea that children should not be taught religious faith.

The billboard located at 725 Washington Ave. N. in Minneapolis reads, “Please don’t indoctrinate me with religion. Teach me to think for myself,” while the one at the corner of University Avenue and Lexington Avenue in St. Paul says: “We are all born without belief in gods. Learn how to be a born-again atheist.”

Both have the image of a smiling baby on the right side of the billboard.

August Berkshire, president of the group Minnesota Atheists, which is affiliated with the national organization American Atheists (a co-sponsor of the billboards), told The Star Tribune that similar billboards have been going up across the country. And Minnesota Atheists thought it was time to bring them here too.

“It’s (billboards) turning out to be a pretty popular way to get the message out,” said Berkshire, adding the billboards put out across the country by the Minneapolis-based group Prolife Across America were the inspiration behind the atheists’ billboards.

“They use a lot of images of children and that got us thinking: religious indoctrination begins with children as soon as they’re old enough to learn,” Berkshire said. “If they weren’t given this indoctrination, they probably wouldn’t believe. It’s for people to realize, where did this religion come from? You weren’t born with it. It was taught to you. And it’s possible to unlearn it.”

Mary Ann Kuharski, director of Prolife Across America, told The Star Tribune the anti-abortion group is not offended at the satirizing of their billboard campaign, and that there are atheists who support their cause too.

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery,” she said. “They’re (babies) eye-catching. We can’t help noticing them. Frankly, they (atheists billboards) may be helping us. They’re still identifying babies for what they are, which is precious.”

A Twin Cities priest is expected to receive a citation for honorary citizenship from the government of Vietnam for his anti-war work in the country during the Vietnam War.

The Rev. Harry Bury, a former pastor at St. Francis Cabrini church in Minneapolis, will be granted the honor on Feb. 1, according to The Plain Dealer.

Bury teaches behavioral science at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, but also keeps a residence in St. Paul, where he was raised, the newspaper reports:
 

“The 81-year-old lifelong peace activist once chained himself to the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) during the war to protest U.S. military intervention.”
 

Bury tells the newspaper: “I’m not into awards. But I’m appreciative and grateful that they recognize I made a contribution to stopping the war.”

St. Francis Cabrini church also noted Bury’s accomplishment in its Jan. 22 bulletin.



 

Calling all Twin Cities Irish Catholics, film buffs and anyone else interested in the history of the religious group’s presence on film.

Author and historian Christopher Shannon of Christendom College in Virginia is scheduled to discuss “Irish Catholics on the American Screen” at the University of St. Thomas on Feb. 13.

Sponsored by the university’s Center for Irish Studies and Center for Catholic Studies, Shannon’s lecture (which is free and open to the public) will delve into American Irish representations on film.

Here’s more information from a released statement issued by St. Thomas about the lecture:
 

“Shannon is the author of 'From Bowery to Broadway: The Irish in American Film,' a 2011 volume that describes an extensive film history in which the American Irish were ‘the most represented ethnic group in American film.’” 
 
“Shannon looks at varying sorts of Irish presences in Hollywood productions from the late 1920s to the early 1950s.  He argues that the 1931 Jimmy Cagney gangster film 'Angels with Dirty Faces,' often reviled as 'cornball,' was a turning point in the history of cinematic images of the Irish. The hugely successful Cagney film was one of the first to present the American Irish as citizens of an urban village that was poised between tradition and modernity."
 
“Shannon contends that the values in these films were strongly oppositional to those of mainstream American culture. The basic tension in the films, he says, was between the impulses to get ahead and move up the social ladder in the land of opportunity, and on the other hand, an almost tribal loyalty to community and family.”
 

For more information about the lecture, contact the St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies.