
Departmental Papers (Sociology)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
11-2016
Publication Source
Religions
Volume
7
Issue
11
Start Page
1
Last Page
11
DOI
10.3390/rel7110131
Abstract
This paper explores continuity and change in the American Catholic hierarchy’s promotion of and later reliance on religious freedom. With an analysis spanning more than 50 years, it first traces the pressures for reform that created the Declaration more than 50 years ago, demonstrating that American bishops were crucial actors in the Declaration’s existence and passage, and that this was the case because of the strong legitimacy pressures they were under as Roman Catholic leaders in a predominantly Protestant country. The paper then turns to a summary of how the Birth Control Mandate of the Affordable Care Act once again created pressures for legitimacy for the American Catholic hierarchy, pressures which were again articulated in terms of critiques of hypocrisy. It demonstrates that although the specific critique changed, accusations of hypocrisy remain central in discussions of the Catholic Church’s stance on the Birth Control Mandate in the Affordable Care Act.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
Keywords
Roman Catholic bishops, religious freedom, Affordable Care Act, Vatican II
Recommended Citation
Wilde, Melissa. 2016. "American Bishops and Religious Freedom: Legacy and Limits." Religions 7 (11): 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel7110131
Included in
American Politics Commons, Catholic Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons
Date Posted: 25 June 2018
This document has been peer reviewed.