Things I wonder if some people understand:
Just as legal firearms doesn't mean that everyone has to own a gun, legalizing gay marriage doesn't mean that everyone will be forced into gay marriage. Just as the prescribing the death penalty to one prisoner doesn't mean that every prisoner is put to death, upholding Roe v. Wade doesn't mean that every pregnant woman has to get an abortion.
So why the upset because insurance companies would be required to cover birth control prescription costs? Do Catholics think that somehow they will be FORCED to use birth control pills or other contraceptives? Maybe you don't agree that people should use them. That doesn't mean they can't.
I don't know. Maybe this is an oversimplification of the matter. I've just never had a problem with people exercising their rights -- even if I don't feel the need to exercise them myself. I want people to be able to live their lives as they see fit, as long as it doesn't infringe on my freedoms. If I'm a Catholic insurance provider, are my freedoms being infringed upon if one of my clients wants to use birth control? I may not agree with her using it, but I cannot deny her the right. It's a medication that is prescribed to many women for a host of reasons, one of which is to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
The demonification of sex is so startling to me. Sex is everywhere. Sex is who we are, it is how we got here. People want to pretend that sex doesn't exist -- it's like pretending you weren't even born. Come on, I just want one rational conservative Christian to admit that sex is fun, it feels good, that people who have sex on a regular basis with a partner they trust are healthier. I hope that Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney don't expect us to believe that the only time we should be having sex is to make a baby. I hate to generalize but it seems like the Republican leadership is more concerned about who everyone else is having sex with than they should be. Maybe all that sexual repression is making them see boobies and pee-pees everywhere. Why the fuck do they care what I do with my body? How is it hurting them? How is it "degrading to society" if I decide, as an adult woman, that I want to use birth control pills to control my menstrual cycle so that I will not get pregnant if and when I decide I'd like to have sex again? Should I maybe call them up and ask for permission the next time I want to "do it?"
People like to talk about America's relationship with race and how it has never truly been resolved. And that is so true. But to a certain extent, I think the real albatross around our nation's neck is going to turn out to be religion. I'm of the opinion that God exists, and he's angry that all of these people claim to know what he wants us to do or not do or think or feel or what we should eat or where we should work or go to school or what kind of medicine we should take. There has to be a higher power out there, but if the God that modern Western religion has created is that higher power, I'll pass. Seriously. Religion is the opiate of the masses and all that, but more than that, it divides us where it should unite us. If we can't get this separation of church and state thing down after nearly 300 years, we're never going to get anywhere.