Posted on 07/08/2015 6:56:59 AM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment applies only to churches, not to individuals, a U.S. senator said on national television recently.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI – the nation's first openly lesbian elected to the U.S. Senate – addressed the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision on June 27 on MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki.
"Should the bakery have to bake the cake for the gay couple getting married?” the host asked. “Where do you come down on that?"
Baldwin responded that the First Amendment gave Americans no right to exercise religion outside the sanctuary of their church, synagogue, or mosque.
“Certainly the First Amendment says that in institutions of faith that there is absolute power to, you know, to observe deeply held religious beliefs. But I don’t think it extends far beyond that,” she said.
Sen. Baldwin then likened the issue to the Obama administration's contentious HHS mandate, requiring employers to furnish contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs to female employees with no co-pay.
“We’ve certainly seen the set of arguments play out in issues such as access to contraception,” Baldwin said. “Should it be the individual pharmacist whose religious beliefs guides whether a prescription is filled, or in this context, they’re talking about expanding this far beyond our churches and synagogues to businesses and individuals across this country.”
“I think there are clear limits that have been set in other contexts, and we ought to abide by those in this new context across America.”
That view contrasts with a broad and deep body of law saying that individuals have the right to exercise their religion freely under the First Amendment, not merely to hold or teach their beliefs.
“At the Founding, as today, 'exercise' connoted action, not just internal belief,” wrote Thomas C. Berg, the James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
That body of cases shows the First Amendment is an individual, not merely a corporate, right.
Further, the extent – and the constitutionality – of the HHS mandate is far from settled.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has won 28 injunctions against the ObamaCare regulation and lost six.
The most significant statement to date has been the U.S. Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision last June, when the justices ruled 5-4 that closely held corporations do, indeed, exercise conscience protections under the terms of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
"We reject HHS's arguments that the owners of the companies forfeited all RFRA protection when they decided to organize their businesses as corporations rather than sole proprietorships or general partnerships," they added. "The plain terms of RFRA make it perfectly clear that Congress did not discriminate in this way against men and women who wish to run their business as for-profit corporations in the manner required by their religious beliefs."
However, the justices did not invoke the First Amendment's guarantee to freedom of religion – the “first freedom” that many say has been increasingly constricted under the Obama administration. The president rhetorically has spoken only of the “freedom of worship,” while conservatives say the “free exercise” clause grants Americans the right to practice their religion inside or outside church, in any relevant aspect of their lives, subject only to the most extreme provisions.
The RFRA holds that the government may not substantially burden any religious belief without having a compelling governmental interest.
“Certainly the First Amendment says that in institutions of faith that there is absolute power to, you know, to observe deeply held religious beliefs. But I don’t think it extends far beyond that,” she said.
This idiot has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution when she doesn't even have a remedial grasp of what it says.
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Just think! People calling themselves Americans elected this ditz.
She’s one clueless bull lesbian.
She should be removed from the Senate
Ignorance of The Constitution is no excuse
Hey, Twit. This 1st amendment you hate applies to THE PEOPLE. The constitution opens with,”We the people”
“she doesn’t even have a remedial grasp of what it says.”
Sadly, leftists really don’t care...its even possible that she knows precisely what it says, and it trying to wordsmith a new meaning. To them, the Bill of Rights is a huge obstacle.
A lesbian fascist. Who knew?!
A bimbo lesbian.
Therefore, a democrat.
"...nor the free exercise thereof."
'Splain that one Tammy.
So, essentially I can go to church, but the state has the absolute right to force me to commit a sin outside of church?
Because that’s what I am hearing this dyke say.
Are the people in WI that oblivious to what their elected officials believe or is this what the electorate wants?
KOOLAID diet.
My Chihuahua has more brains than this ditz....................
What freedoms will you bestow upon us, beyotch?
She is a satanic pervert whose mental functions are corrupted.
She’s really not smart. Shevjustvsees the emotional reactions to things seeming to be successful (well they are successful in the short term for now) and she wants to kickstart another emotion-based change.
This is really dumb though. Really dumb.
She didn’t quite think this through...at all.
Is she related to Harf?
A rhetorical question: does this limitation apply to Democrats and Democrat organizations (the other part of the 1st amendment; the press)? Wild guess: it probably only applies to people with whom he disagrees with.
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