Church in US leads "Fortnight for Freedom"

Spearheaded by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, the "Fortnight for Freedom" campaign seeks to promote and emphasize Church teaching on religious freedom. The fortnight is a period of prayer, education and action aimed at explaining how a U.S. federal health care mandate violates religious principles. The mover and shaker behind the campaign is Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. He told Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges that religious liberty "is really in perilous waters right now." Listen to Vatican Radio's extended interview with Archbishop Lori:

Archbishop Lori says that before religious liberty is endangered in a physical way "it becomes endangered culturally" and and told Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges that Americans need "to keep the torch of religious liberty burning brightly." He also spoke of the link between religious intolerance and the growing secularization in many western nations saying "religious freedom goes hand in hand with the new evangelization."

Asked about accusations that the U.S. Bishops' campaign for religious freedom is a partisan political move in an election year, Archbishop Lori insisted that religious freedom is not a partisan issue: "it's not a matter for the Democrats or for the Republicans," he said, but instead is "a fundamental human right and it's protection is "in everyone's interest."

The archbishop also went on warn about the implications of an erosion of religious freedom and said it would hamper the U.S. or indeed any other government to act as a role model for other nations around the world where religious rights are being violated: "If this government allows religious liberty to erode then we're not going to be in a good position in the world."