Posted on 03/27/2014 7:06:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
Lawyers for Hobby Lobby this week urged the Supreme Court to let companies opt out of certain health insurance rules for religious reasons, and they have a good chance of success. If employers are allowed to refuse to provide coverage that pays for certain types of contraception, it will be a big victory for religious conservatives. Or will it?
After all, they have found before that getting your way does not always mean advancing your cause. Sometimes winning is a recipe for defeat.
That was the surprising case with same-sex marriage. Not long ago, public opinion was strongly opposed to it. Going into Election Day 2012, same-sex marriage had been put before the voters in statewide referendums 32 times, and 32 times it had lost.
Besides upholding "traditional marriage," these measures helped elect Republicans. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said that in 2004 and 2006, White House strategist Karl Rove worked to get same-sex marriage on the ballot to spur social conservatives to get to the polls.
But in 2012, the balance shifted. Gay marriage was approved by voters in all four states considering the issue. Since then, opponents have lost a Supreme Court decision, and 17 states now permit gays and lesbians to marry. A Gallup poll last year found that 54 percent of Americans support the idea -- up from 27 percent in 1996.
Much of the opposition comes from Christians who see it as an affront to God's law and an assault on the foundation of society. When a ban appeared on the California ballot in 2008, the Catholic Church, evangelical groups and the Mormon Church joined in campaigning for it. A Catholic bishop explained the alliance as one of believers who understand same-sex marriage to be "an attack of the Evil One."
But most people who support same-sex marriage don't think they are under the influence of Satan. Statements like that had two effects: 1) discrediting opponents by making it appear they had no basis except their interpretation of the word of God, and 2) driving supporters of same-sex marriage away from churches and faith itself.
The rise of support for gay matrimony has mirrored the decline of conservative Christianity. In his book "The Great Evangelical Recession," evangelical pastor John S. Dickerson concludes that the number of people attending his type of church is falling. And he acknowledges one big reason: "The most common belief about Bible-believing Christians today is that we are homophobic, anti-gay bigots."
That's one reason so many people have decided religion is not for them. The Pew Research Center reported in 2012 that the percentage of American adults with no religious affiliation has reached nearly 20 percent, with nearly a third of those calling themselves atheists or agnostics. Among those under 30, the numbers are even higher.
Those statistics are bad news for Republicans and conservative causes in general, since 63 percent of the "nones" lean Democratic, with only 26 percent preferring the GOP. Those on the religious right find that their vocal rejection of same-sex marriage, once an asset, has become an albatross.
If religious opposition to same-sex marriage isn't enough to turn off voters, religious opposition to contraception should be. The Hobby Lobby case promises to spread the news that many conservative Christians and Republicans take a dim view of birth control.
Mike Huckabee, who may run for president in 2016, recently said that Democrats favor mandated contraceptive coverage to make women believe "they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government." Rick Santorum, who ran in 2012, said then that contraception is "not OK, because it's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." The Catholic Church opposes all contraception.
If Hobby Lobby wins in the Supreme Court, conservatives will stand with business owners who regard contraception as forbidden by their faith and exclude it from the health insurance they provide employees. As that policy is embraced by other religious capitalists, it will convey to everyone that if you use birth control, you're at odds with Christianity and the Republican Party.
The Guttmacher Institute reports that more than 99 percent of women aged 15-44 who have ever had sex have used at least one type of contraception. Conservatives probably can't antagonize this entire group, but you have to give them credit for trying.
I think that I resolved the eternal question, “would you rather be right or would you rather be popular”? in about the eighth grade. I’d rather never again win an election rather than compromise my values and principles.
If I were to do that I’d just be another dhimmicrat.
hell's bells! make your pronouns agree!
But why does your employer need to pay for it? Should your employer be required to pay for your vitamins and running shoes, too? How about your meals?
California* (June 28, 2013), Connecticut (Nov. 12, 2008), Iowa (Apr. 24, 2009), Massachusetts (May 17, 2004), New Jersey (Oct. 21, 2013), New Mexico (Dec. 19, 2013)
8 by State Legislature
Delaware (July 1, 2013), Hawaii (Dec. 2, 2013), Illinois (law will take effect June 1, 2014), Minnesota (Aug. 1, 2013), New Hampshire (Jan. 1, 2010), New York (July 24, 2011), Rhode Island (Aug. 1, 2013), Vermont (Sep. 1, 2009)
3 by Popular Vote
Maine (Dec. 29, 2012), Maryland (Jan. 1, 2013), Washington (Dec. 9, 2012)
It’s sad townhall would publish such anti Christian arguments.
I stand with Hobby Lobby NOT because I oppose birth control (I don't), but because I SUPPORT their freedom to do whatever THEY like with THEIR business.
IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?
This guy has a promising career with the RNC.
This nonsense made Townhall?
Support freedom of conscience or be seen as bigots! What a choice!
Propaganda straight from the voice of the gOpE spokesperson TokyoRove. The case has NOTHING to do with homosexuality; it's simply thrown into the article for more hysterics from the squishy moderates who run from all social issues. The Hobby Lobby case, in addition to being about the foundational First Amendment right to Religious Freedom, is only about the four required forms of birth control which can cause an abortion
On the contrary. I do hope they win this but if they go under, so do thousands of jobs. They won’t be too popular if that happens.
The democrats won’t be too popular, that is.
Abortifacient pills aren't contraception pills.
Astonishingly dishonest journalism.
They need to put this Chapman guy on staff at National Review. He and Jason Steorts can be Best Buddies and take turns writing attacks on Mark Steyn.
“The rise of support for gay matrimony”
Pardon me, but I don’t remember any election on this point? A well organized group of perverts terrorized weak-kneed companies and politicians into caving, but that hardly represents a ‘rise.’
Bet the supporters would never allow this to come to a popular vote.
And oh by the way, liberal and other scum have been very successful into making this issue into a ‘Bible versus perverts’ thing. It is not. You don’t require either the Bible or God to know what sick and perverted is.
And if tomorrow a missing book of the Bible were found that said homosexuality is OK, there are millions of around that are still going to say, “no it is not - it is still sick and perverted!”
This is argument is about whether I, as your employer, must be forced by law to pay for drugs whose sole purpose is to produce an abortion of your baby!
Folks this isn't about me, as an employer, paying for acne, diabetes, high blood pressure, life saving heart drugs, or me, as an employer, by force of law created by the Obama Administration and one political party only, being forced to pay for drugs whose sole purpose is to kill the babies of my employees.
Do I, as an employer, have the moral right to refuse to participate in the premeditated murder of the unborn or must I choose between participating in the murder of innocent unborn babies or shutting down a business that provides for the livelihood of thousands of people?
Unrepentant homosexuality is a sin. The Bible is quite clear on that, so any Christian who claims otherwise is simply wrong. This doesn’t mean homosexual offenders can’t repent. The Bible is quite clear on that, too. Homosexuality can be forgiven just like adultery, lying, stealing, and other sin, but one has to #1 accept that these are evil things to do and #2 repent of doing them.
So the author of this ridiculous article thinks the above opinion might make me unpopular. Maybe I’m one of those right wing Christians who actually believes God’s revealed Word. Guess what? There’s no such thing as right or left Christians. A Christian, by definition, must believe and follow what Jesus and the apostles revealed to us. If one doesn’t follow Jesus, one cannot be a Christian.
The author also makes the equally ridiculous claim that Christians oppose contraception. Some Christians do, but most don’t. The author has wrongly characterized the situation. It isn’t about taking birth control away from women, i.e. the so-called War on Women.
The conservative opposition to mandated “free” birth control revolves around two main issues. The first involves using law to force people to violate sincerely held religious views. The second has nothing to do with religion. It’s about using law to force businesses to pay for “free” contraception as a price of doing business.
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