Birth Control Ruling Against Church Group

Re “Catholic Group Must Cover Birth Control,” March 2: I know of no issue of social justice in which I am not “left wing.” I went to jail during the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements and I oppose the Iraq war. But as a Catholic, I also believe abortion, homosexual “unions” and contraception all violate not merely the tenets of my religion but right reason and the universal natural law. And now my native state’s Supreme Court is trying to force my church to violate its belief, that contraception is intrinsically immoral. At what point will the limits of unjust dictatorship against my religion be reached?

David Irby

Redondo Beach

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I don’t see how the court’s ruling hurts the Catholic Church. No one is forced to take birth control measures. The individual’s freedom to make that intimate choice is preserved. But the ruling has thwarted the church’s attempt to employ civil law as an instrument to enforce its own moral code. Actually, the church would be better advised to examine its own moral conduct and enforce the laws against the sexual abuse of children. Thank God for the separation of church and state because, when it comes to clerical molestation, the conduct of the state is far more godly than that of the church.

Udo Strutynski

Los Angeles