No greater threat to 'freedom of religion' in this country than the bishops themselves.  Not too hidden from public view are the bishops support and endorsement of the republican agenda.  If only the bishops were totally in support of the works of mercy contained in 'what you do to the least of my brethren'  or as Francis would say 'smell like the sheep' there would be no issue.  Alas the bishops parry on in science and politics, with their opposition to social issues favored by the vast majority of the faithful;  contraception, civil unions, stem cell research,  ordaining women, divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion.  The list then goes on to science, with the church accepting beliefs as truths, from the first centuries, over what science knows to be alternative facts, over the relativity of quantum mechanics by accepting a static world of ancient myth and superstition.   While the bishops insist on improvidence, their mingling in science and politics, becomes fiction.