Amelia Thomson-Deveaux, at Politico, on the Becket Fund. The key section, highlighting the promise and the problem with the Becket Fund, is this:
Luke Goodrich, the group’s deputy general counsel, says that groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the ACLU are selective about their commitment to religious freedom in a way that the Becket Fund is not. “It seems like groups like Americans United and the ACLU are willing to support religious freedom as long as it doesn’t conflict with other values that they hold dear,” he says. “In cases involving the contraception mandate, the Affordable Care Act appears to be a more important value than religious freedom.”
There is much to be said for Becket's consistency and principled stance on behalf of religious liberty. But, for Catholics, freedom is not the only value that is of significance, and certainly the bishops' conference should weigh those other values when making its decisions. Regrettably, both in its stated positions and increasingly in its staffing, the conference looks like an arm of the Becket Fund. That is not Becket's fault - but it is the bishops' fault. Legal analysis and perspectives are important but not exhaustive.
