Posted on 07/02/2014 2:57:00 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
When the Supreme Court released their decision inHobby Lobby v. Sebelius on Monday it started the race to understand what it means for the other challenges to the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare.
The Hobby Lobby case established that the mandate violates the religious freedom of private, family owned companies, but a number of religiously affiliated non-profit organizations have challenged the mandate as well.
Obamacare includes an exemption from the mandate for churches, but that does not extend to thousands of religiously affiliated organizations like hospitals, colleges, universities, religious schools, and charities.
For example, Tyndale House Publishing, which is owned by the nonprofit Tyndale House Foundation and is the largest Bible publisher in the world, has been deemed not religious enough to be exempt.
Another non-profit organization that does not want to be forced to purchase contraception in their insurance plans is Little Sisters of the Poor, an international organization of Catholic nuns that cares for elderly poor people.
They have filed a lawsuit claiming that the requirement to provide contraceptive coverage violates their religious freedom.
In an effort to accommodate religious organizations without exempting them, the Obama Administration has told Little Sisters to sign a letter that the organization’s employees (nuns) could then use to obtain birth control coverage.
However, Little Sisters has argued that signing a letter that someone else would use to obtain birth control makes them complicit in something they believe is wrong.
The Department of Health and Human Services responded by claiming that Little Sisters should not object to signing the letter because it does not make them a party to the transaction but only releases them from the obligation of providing birth control themselves.
But the premise is wrong.
If the free exercise of religion means anything, it means the government doesn't get to tell the people what is important to them as a matter of conscience, they get to honor it.
When the government tells you what beliefs are approved, that looks much more like an establishment of religion rather than the free exercise of it.
The good news is that the Hobby Lobby decision rejected the idea that government can decide for individuals when an action is morally objectionable.
Justice Alito, in the majority opinion, wrote, “[The objection to the mandate] implicates a difficult and important question of religion and moral philosophy, namely, the circumstances under which it is wrong for a person to perform an act that is innocent in itself but that has the effect of enabling or facilitating the commission of an immoral act by another. Arrogating the authority to provide a binding national answer to this religious and philosophical question, HHS and the principal dissent in effect tell the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed. For good reason, we have repeatedly refused to take such a step.”
He continued, “it is not for us to say that their religious beliefs are mistaken or insubstantial.”
This seems like good news for Little Sisters of the Poor.
The government’s argument that religious organizations should be content with the accommodation being offered appears to have been rejected on the grounds that the government doesn’t get to dictate to its subjects err... the people...what is acceptable to them on moral grounds.
If, as we hope they will, the Supreme Court agrees that the contraception mandate violates the religious freedom of non-profit organizations as well, then we can go back to figuring out who thought it was critical to guarantee birth control coverage for an order of nuns in the first place.
More proof that liberalism is a mental disorder.
Somehow, in my heart of hearts, this whole STUPID argument about birth control started because women and families became outraged that the little blue pill was paid for, but for women, responsibly or irresponsibly managing life, family planning and love, had to pay. I think the easy answer is no birth control, no blue pills. And I’m sorry they ever invented a morning after pill so please, don’t even go there with me, I think they should be banned or administered as part of a medical rape kit only.
I’ll sign off now, I’m almost afraid of the backlash on this but it’s true. Women only got mad about birth control when blue pills were approved... it was a long time ago but I clearly remember the outrage, it has never really ceased to be the secret behind the whole gosh darn fight.
Why should anyone pay for your whoredom and abortion?
Chance encounters with Bill Clinton.
The favorite is SELF CONTROL....
This is not about birth control for nuns.
This is about trashing the beliefs of Christians,
AND especially about forcing religious leaders to perform acts which they abhor.
It is having them symbolically spit on the bible.
They want to force Christians to renounce God.
The purpose of the “little blue pill” is to treat an abnormal condition. On the other hand, the purpose of the contraceptive is to create an abnormal condition.
Does a bear poop in the woods?
Is the Pope Catholic?
Therein lay your answers.
Nuns do practice birth control the way billions of women have throughout history...by being celibate.
They have lay employees. Some of them will be non-Catholics. Some will be Catholics who don’t feel bound by Catholic moral dogma.
Liberals have been crying that birth control pills are used overwhelmingly to treat other disorders. In fact, if you listen to the Flucks of the world, birth control pills are rarely used for birth control.
And let’s not forget that Muslims, the faith of Barry Bathhouse, got a waiver from participating in ObamaCare. Muslims don’t believe in abortion, sodomite worship, ect. But they don’t suffer for their beliefs. They are given a free pass because the Muslim in chief is is one of them. And like any good Muslim, he hates Christians with a passion.
Can you supply a link to that Muslim exemption?
My research shows to be granted a religious exemption you need to be outside the SocSec system like Amish and Mennonites.
Muslims are NOT exempted from SocSec.
Little Sisters of the Poor have VOLUNTEER employees. You don’t provide volunteers with health coverage.
Obama doesn't have that excuse. He wants the Christians to comply with his edicts because he enjoys exercising control (and to please portions of his base).
“My research shows to be granted a religious exemption you need to be outside the SocSec system like Amish and Mennonites”.
Women were mad that birth control wasn’t covered before the little blue pill was approved. It’s just that when men got their pill covered, women were vocal about the obvious hypocrisy.
It’s not like the little blue pill is even medically necessary for health. It’s purely so men can have sex.
I don't mind if my insurance premiums help a man with erectile dysfunction to enjoy a normal sex life but I most certainly DO when they help a woman abort her preborn child. Nearly ALL "birth control" (pills, implants and IUDs) effectively prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus causing the new human life to be ejected. I would rather see women and men become more responsible and respectful of the miracle of human procreation than further cheapen it by "free" human extermination services.
“Why Do Nuns Need Birth Control?”
I’ve heard for the last 70+ years that “nobody gets nun but the priest”.
http://www.littlesistersofthepoor.org/placeforyou/employment
They have paid, lay employees. There are volunteer helpers as well, per their website, and of course the backbone, so to speak, of the professed religious, but they also have lay employees.
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