New York Times Allows Anti-Catholic Hobby Lobby Ad

In The New York Times Thursday was a full-page ad that many will consider anti-Catholic.

Headlined “Dogma Should Not Trump Our Civil Liberties”, the ad claims “All-Male, All-Roman Catholic Majority on Supreme Court Puts Religious Wrongs Over Women’s Rights.”

The ad from the Freedom from Religion Foundation accuses the Supreme Court’s “ultra-conservative, Roman Catholic majority” of siding “with zealous fundamentalists who equate contraception with abortion.”

The ad quotes Marget Sanger who said, “No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body.” The ad does not quote Sanger when she said, “Birth control will lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”

The ad also does not explain how the personal religion of the various justices impacted their decision in the Hobby Lobby case. The majority decision does not cite either scripture or papal encyclicals.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation seems to be incensed that Catholics are sitting on the Supreme Court at all, forgetting there is no “religious test” for office in the United States, according to the Constitution.

The ad seems chiefly to be a fundraising device, including the offer for a lifetime membership with the group at $1,000 and an “after-life” membership for $5,000.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is for “atheists, agnostics, and other skeptics.” Its honorary board includes famous atheists like Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, comedian Julia Sweeney, presidential son Ron Reagan, and Oliver Sacks.