Posted on 10/09/2013 9:09:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Obama administration has prohibited the Kennedy family from practicing its Catholicism, and the Kennedys now intend to ask the Supreme Court to restore their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.
Their case could become one of the most consequential in our nation's history. The issue: Will the most fundamental liberty of all -- freedom of conscience -- survive in post-Obama America?
John Kennedy serves as president of Autocam and Autocam Medical, Michigan-based companies that produce automobile components and medical devices. He and his family own the companies, which employ 661 people in the United States.
The Kennedys strive to live all parts of their lives -- including their business lives -- in keeping with their Catholic faith.
"We're called into different vocations or different occupations," Kennedy told me in an interview this week, "but we are supposed to respond to that call and try to basically show the teachings of Jesus Christ in everything we do."
"You have an obligation to treat everyone justly, and, in my mind, you are supposed to treat all people that you come across in life as part of your family," said Kennedy.
Autocam pays it workers an average of $53,000 per year -- which is more than the median national household income -- and provides its workers with a generous self-insured health care plan through which it pays out an average of "about $11,000 to $12,000" per employee per year.
Among those annual benefits is $1,500 the company deposits in Health Savings Accounts controlled by the individual workers.
But there is one thing the Kennedys won't do: Pay for sterilizations, artificial contraceptives or abortions -- including abortions induced by drugs. In keeping with Catholic teaching, they believe these things are "intrinsically evil" and that it would be wrong for them to pay for them.
Nonetheless, the Kennedys employees retain the right to buy these things with their own money -- including with money withdrawn from their Health Savings Accounts.
A year ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued a "preventive services" regulation under Obamacare. This regulation requires almost all health care plans to cover, without fees or co-pay, sterilizations, artificial contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.
The U.S. Catholic bishops unanimously condemned this regulation as a "violation of personal civil rights" and an "illegal and unjust mandate."
Many Catholic bishops declared: "We cannot -- we will not -- obey this unjust law."
With great moral courage, the Kennedys made a similar determination.
When I interviewed John Kennedy this week, I asked him: "Can your family-owned company, in keeping with the way you have run it in accordance with your Catholic faith, obey that regulation?"
"No," said Kennedy. "I can't see how we can do that."
"So you have no doubt that the Obama administration, through this regulation, is trying to force you to act against your faith?" I asked.
"Yes," said Kennedy.
"They have essentially prohibited you from doing what you have always tried to do, which is to live your life everywhere and at all times in accord with your Catholic faith?" I asked.
"Correct," said Kennedy.
"They have essentially prohibited you, as a business owner, as an employer of hundreds of people, from practicing your religion?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
In October of 2012, the Kennedys and Autocam sued Sebelius in U.S. District Court. "Plaintiffs are adherents of the Catholic faith as defined by the Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Catholic Church," said their suit. "These teachings prohibit the Plaintiffs from participating in, paying for, training others to engage in, or otherwise cooperating in the practice of contraception, including abortifacient contraception and sterilization."
"Plaintiffs's sincerely held religious convictions also prevent them from adopting the spurious position that their religious beliefs do not apply when they enter the world of work," said the suit.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit concluded last month that the Kennedy's could not sue to protect themselves from the regulation because: "The decision to comply with the mandate falls on Autocam, not the Kennedys."
It does not matter that the Kennedys own Autocom. "[W]e agree with the government that Autocam is not a 'person' capable of 'religious exercise,'" said the court.
Thus the administration and this court have declared that the federal government can force Catholics to act against their faith, if they have the audacity to create and incorporate a business.
The administration has further declared that individual Catholics must comply with sterilization-contraceptive-abortifacient regulation when they buy insurance in the Obamacare exchanges. Thus, President Obama -- through his HHS -- is prohibiting the practice of Catholicism, not just for business owners such as the Kennedys, but also for Americans generally.
The Kennedys intend to take their case to the Supreme Court. But before it gets there, the House of Representatives should comply with the request of the Catholic bishops to attach language to either the must-pass continuing resolution or debt-limit bill protecting Americans forever from being ordered by an Obamacare regulation to buy or provide health-insurance coverage in violation of their moral principles or their faith.
If Obama wants to shut down the government or stop the Treasury from borrowing more money until Congress allows him to retain the usurped power to attack the freedom of conscience, let him try it. Then let's have a national debate about just how un-American and tyrannical Obama's attack on religious liberty is.
The Catholicism the Kennedy’s practice is the reason I am (currently) a non-practicing Catholic.
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Does this mean that you let sinners influence your decisions more than the Holy Spirit?
PS I don’t think this is the POLITICAL Kennedy family...but a different Kennedy family.
Amen xzins. In plain sight, as many refuse to see it. We have history as our guide.
As I try to tell chose who bicker on religion threads, this is the same thing enshrined in the Russian and French constitutions. Shut the church up about life, God, natural law... It is a huge step towards worship of state.
If Catholics understood their history, they would know where the phrase ‘dark ages’ came from and how it was the opposite.
The knowledge brought to the ‘barbarians’ was caught up by humanists, secularists and some ranking freemasons as ‘their knowledge’, then they were ‘enlightened’.
Till this day people believe the church is anti-science, which is a lie of staggering proportions.
Even here in the colonies in history, Catholic Maryland was the first to promote religious freedom, before Pennsylvania.
The Puritans moved there from New England and Virginia, commenced taking over, and with the help of Freemasonry made Catholicism re: religious practice, participation in government, etc. illegal.
From Machiavelli, Hobbes, Henry VIII, Spinoza, Rousseau to Lockes’ two faces of liberalism, secular humanism has become liberalism.
There are many of our protestant brothers and sisters that applaud the hand of state on Catholicism. There are others who see what’s down the road for them. They see what’s happened to the schools, marriage, society, etc..
With ‘democracy’ as a sole choice, the moral character of the people has to be there. Rousseau was a proponent of majority rule... we see how that turned out.
The declaration has two clear statements. Inalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. It doesn’t stop there... They come from our creator. This is the part they tend to leave out. It concludes we will be judged by the creator by what we do here. Liberalism takes the Lenin trick, freedom of ‘worship’; In other words, don’t practice your religion outside the church, or you’ll be shot. It’s only a matter of time.
This is to replace it with civil religion, as Rousseau pushed, democracy and religion cannot co-exist.
They attacked Justice Thomas because he’s clear and has used Natural Law. Remember Biden when questioning him, didn’t want him in because he believed in something higher than civil law. Oh, and Biden is a ‘Catholic’ in name only.
This is what the Nuremberg trials were about.
You have to answer to a law above the state.
Leviathan by Hobbes and it’s blatant materialism converted many to Christianity. Those who read it knew that was a lot more to life than that, saw what was down the road, then the pendulum swings them away from it.
Many have stolen the wheel or try to recreate it in their own fashion. Reason, study, truth, natural law knowledge makes you the smartest individual in the world... as long as you don’t tell them where you got it. Keep God out of it and you’re golden. /s
Biden just met with his Holy Father, the Catholic Pope and took Communion at the Vatican, as did his fellow Catholic Nancy Pelosi.
See post 35.
I used to be on the committee that did our Life Chain in Octobers. It always surprised me how few non-Catholics showed up.
The year Katrina hit ALL of the local churches got together and organized so there would be no duplication of services and that no one church would have an unnecessary burden. That was commendable. But NO ONE ELSE came out for LIFE.
Thanks Kaslin.
Kennedy Was Cocaine User, New Book Claims
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/911063/posts
Amazing Comparison of Kennedy, Reagan & Obama
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3082750/posts
So where in the Bible does it say it’s OK to murder the unborn? Just wondering.
Amen.
Please provide the pictures of Pope Francis giving communion to Biden or Pelosi. If they were two of the thousands that attended the Pope’s inaugural Mass and received communion, it was not the Pope who gave it to them. It was one of the hundreds of priests that hand out Holy Communion at such events. And, they knew they were not supposed to receive communion. So they’ll have to answer to God. I would suspect that the majority of priests handing out Holy Communion at the Vatican have no clue who Pelosi or Biden are. If they did know who these pro-abort policians were and gave them communion, they would be in the same boat they are. Until I see pictures of them receiving communion at the Papal Mass I can’t say for certain if they did or not. And no one else can.
LOL, why post that to me, if someone said that the Pope personally gave Communion to Catholics Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, when they took communion at the Vatican, then ping them, not me.
As far as you demanding photos from people, show me the photos of the vice President of the United States and Nancy Pelosi moving around alone and anonymously.
No one was seeking to deny them communion, or else it would have so done.
The Kennedys practice Catholicism?
“Biden just met with his Holy Father, the Catholic Pope and took Communion at the Vatican, as did his fellow Catholic Nancy Pelosi”.
You’re anti-Catholicism postings make it obvious that you were insinuating that Pope Francis knew the Rats were pro-abortion and went ahead and allowed them to receive communion anyway.
Kinda makes me glad I don’t work for a Christian Scientist or a Jehovah’s Witness.
If you want the huge number of Catholic pro-abortion, pro-gay leaders of the left, the preferred leaders and party of Catholics, to not receive communion, then write a letter to someone else, not me.
Here is Catholic pro-abortion, pro-immigration hero Ted Kennedy, of America's Catholic royal family, receiving his treatment at the hands of the Catholic church.
Like I’ve said before your hatred of all things Catholic has to do with your own insecurities. Never once have I read a posting from you cutting down the protestants that voted for Obama. 95% of black Americans, the vast majority being protestants, voted for the baby killer Obama. The Episcopal Church is the most liberal church in America, taking no stance on abortion, letting homosexuals become pastors and letting women become pastors, but never have I read one word where you attack the Episcopal Church. All the pro-abortion democrat protestants that make up the democrat party, never a word from you about their support of open border borders and abortion on demand. Your have an abnormal obsession with all things Catholic, while giving a pass to any other faith in the United States. So this is no personal attack from me. If I had a dollar for every personal email I have received from others thanking me for standing up to Catholic bashers on FR I would have plenty of money. Most don’t even bother replying to your anti-Catholic bigotry. Long ago they grew tired of it.
Sigh! We have our low info posters who assume that all Kennedys are THE Kennedys! Do they vote?
You have got to quit lying, and lying in such a nasty foul way.
The viciousness of your lies and whatever is evidently some personal hatred, has got to be reigned in.
I have no idea what you could possibly be reacting to in that post, or any of my posts on this thread, but you need to force your self to control whatever evil impulses you have to create and expel such uncalled for personal hatred and lies about people here.
So you want me to go back and post all the rants you did a few weeks ago about JFK being the reincarnation of Satan and destroying the country. I posted historical references from conservatives that showed you that JFK was as conservative as any of today’s RINO politicians that are destroying the republican party. Now you have managed to turn this thread into another anti-Catholic, Kennedy-hating thread when the thread HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Kennedy political family. It is about religious liberty and nothing else. So there is no lying from me. I can prove anything and everything I have ever posted. I am conservative to the bone, but I refuse to stand by and let anti-Catholics turn any thread they read into just another Catholic bash. And if you have anything personal that you want to send my way how about showing the common courtesy to send a personal message. Others don’t want to to be bothered with this petty bickering.
I thought so.
This is some kind of a stalking thing, you are carrying some grudge from a past thread and bringing it to this thread.
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