In for a dime in for a dollar seems to be the modus operandi in the latest round of culture warfare and even when reasonable compromise is within reach it remains elusive.
And so we have the sight of Catholic bishops locking horns with the Obama administration over its principled view that all women need affordable access to contraceptive services and products, including the morning-after pill, which pro-lifers view as a form of abortion. This right happens to be a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act.
The dust-up has Republicans adrool because it shows, in their view, that President Obama is anti-religion, something that they have said all along and gets sillier every time it is uttered.
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A reasonable compromise would be to allow Catholic and other religiously affiliated institutions to outsource reproductive services for their employees to outside providers who do not have religious scruples, but the bishops are having none of that.
In this instance the guys in the funny hats are not on the side of the law. Secular laws trump religious beliefs, which is the reason that Mitt Romney could not take multiple wives if he was among the small minority of Mormons who still practice polygamy.
I happen to believe, perhaps naively, that a compromise will be hammered out sooner or later — and the White House did offer a fig leaf accommodating the church today — but not until the church and the Republicans have their fill of Obama bashing.