During a wide-ranging interview while traveling from Manila to Rome, Pope Francis addressed and roundly condemned what he termed “ideological colonization”. By this he means the practice of developed nations linking aid for developing countries with the indoctrination and adoption of ideas foreign to their culture. He gave as an example a minister of education who sought financial aid to build schools for the poor. The grant money was offered only if the schools used a specific textbook that promoted a radical gender theory that contradicted both Church teaching and the country’s cultural norms.
Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, the Chairman of Communications for the African bishops, echoes the Pope’s concerns and accuses the United States of being complicit in the rise of Boko Haram through cultural imperialism:
The United States actually said it would help Nigeria with Boko Haram only if we modify our laws concerning homosexuality, family planning, and birth control. It’s very clear that a cultural imperialism exists. In fact, I think that Africa is suffering greatly from a cultural imperialism that threatens to erode our cultural values.
Now, the Obama administration is bringing this coercive model of relief work to American shores. The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is set to issue new rules that will require all organizations that care for unaccompanied child refugees to provide abortion and abortion-inducing emergency contraception to these children. There is no accommodation for faith-based organizations that find these interventions morally objectionable.
In addition, recipients of federal aid to help these refugee children will be required to provide sensitivity training for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI) issues. The new rules make a distinction between sex and gender asserting that sex refers to one’s biological anatomy, but gender is “one’s sense of self”. Again, there is no accommodation for faith-based organizations that view the normalization of these identities as morally problematic.
It is not surprising the HHS would have little concern for religious liberty. This is the same organization that is mandating religious employers violate their moral principles and provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception to their employees. I really did not think this administration could stoop much lower than bullying the Little Sisters of The Poor over the HHS mandate. But now the Obama HHS is holding aid to refugee children hostage to the acceptance and propagation of its radical agenda on sexuality.
The current illegal immigration wave of unaccompanied alien children was fostered by the Obama administration with its empty promises and failed immigration policy. To now use these children as pawns to further a perverse social agenda is unconscionable. This is ideological blackmail and proselytism at its worst.
These children do not need contraception. They do not need abortions. They do not need encouragement to adopt deviant sexual lifestyles. These children need a safe environment with proper food, clothing and shelter. They need to be treated with compassion and dignity. Faith-based organizations, most notably the Catholic Church, are the largest suppliers of exactly this kind of charitable relief work and have been for centuries. To deny refugee children access to this expertise because these organizations do not endorse abortion demonstrates a tragic misalignment of this administration’s priorities.
There is still a short time to comment on these proposed regulations and insist upon conscience protection for faith-based charitable organizations. But more importantly, we need Congress to pass conscience protection legislation that codifies the religious liberty called for in the First Amendment of our Constitution. Both individuals and faith-based institutions must be confident that they can freely exercise their religious principles without punitive and coercive interference from the state.
Dr. Denise Jackson Hunnell is a Fellow of Human Life International. She graduated from Rice University with a BA in biochemistry and psychology. She earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She went on to complete a residency in family medicine at Marquette General Hospital, Marquette, Michigan.
Upon completion of her training, Dr. Hunnell served as a family physician in the United States Air Force. She was honorably discharged. She continued to practice medicine all over the country as her husband’s Air Force career kept them on the move. In order to better care for her family, Dr. Hunnell retired from active clinical practice and focused her professional efforts on writing and teaching. She has contributed work to local and national Catholic publications as well as to secular newspapers including the Washington Post and the Washington Times. She also teaches anatomy and physiology at Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus. Dr. Hunnell serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Other affiliations include the American Academy of Family Physicians, The Catholic Medical Association, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. She received her certification in health care ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2009.
Dr. Hunnell has been married for nearly thirty years to Colonel (ret) John F. Hunnell, an Air Force test pilot. They have four children and are blessed with three grandchildren so far.
