Bill O’Reilly Interviews Cardinal Timothy Dolan; He Says ‘It’s Not About Contraception, It’s About Religious Freedom’
On The O’Reilly Factor, Bill sat down with Cardinal Timothy Dolan. He started off asking the Cardinal about the Obama administration's position on requiring religious institutions to provide contraception. Cardinal Dolan acknowledged that the Catholic church is in the position of promoting an unpopular concept. He told Bill, “It’s a tough battle because of that and our opponents are very shrewd because they’ve chosen an issue that they know we’re not very popular on.”
He said that there are those politicians who want to caricature the bishops as “hopelessly out of touch” but they can’t “back down from this fight.” Cardinal Dolan says that’s why the Catholic church has to be “very vigorous in insisting that this is not about contraception, it’s about religious freedom.”
To Bill’s question, does the Catholic church want to be a player in American politics, Cardinal Dolan clarified, “The Catholic church wants its people to be a player in American politics.”
He continued, “To think that there’s a Berlin Wall between one’s religious convictions and one’s political activities is crazy, it’s ludicrous. It’s not only non-Catholic … it’s also un-American.”
Would you say to American Catholics to not vote for President Obama based on this intrusion of government? Cardinal Dolan responded, “I would never myself say don’t vote for against or don’t vote for a particular candidate. For one it’s counterproductive … even very faithful Catholics don’t like their bishops or priests telling them how to vote.”
