Yes, you read that right. Earlier this week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors issued a resolution denouncing the Vatican and its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith generally with regard to its teachings about homosexuality, and specifically about it's directive to the Archdiocese of San Francisco (among others) and Catholic Charities not to participate in adoption placements. (I've included the full text of the resolution at the end of this entry.) The directive was in response to legislation requiring that adoption services not discriminate against lesbian and gay applicants.
You've already seen my mixed thoughts about such anti-discrimination policies that don't allow exemptions for religious services providers. I wish I could tell you that my opinion has solidified one way or the other, but it hasn't. I'm still torn, and suspect I will be for some time.
What's interesting me here is the Supervisors' resolution itself. The Vatican is a sovereign nation, and it's perfectly legitimate for a nation or one of its political subdivisions to denounce the conduct of a foreign state (which the Supervisors made clear it was doing in the second paragraph -- the first "whereas" clause -- of the resolution). In that sense, what the Supervisors did was proper. Where things get sketchy is that it's not just a nation -- it's also the center of a religious body: is it proper for a government entity to officially denounce the teachings and directives of a particular religion, and the actions of its clergy?
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