Church vs Mandate

I considered jazzing up the title with something like CONTRA-DECEPTION, but this topic has been knocked around so much, I didn’t have the heart. It’s a labor rights issue, and yet both sides of the debate have contorted the conversation until it’s like reading current events on silly putty. Conservatives decry an assault on religious freedom. Liberals rally behind a woman’s right to preventative healthcare. And now our president has decided to grant further exception to the mandate. Are we in an election year or something?

Contrary to popular belief, there IS an exemption for religious employers included in the mandate already. Bloomberg reported that, “Houses of worship and nonprofit religious groups that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith would be exempt, while religious hospitals and universities would not.” Big shocker, people of different faiths work for Catholic-based institutions: professors, nurses, secretaries, janitors, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, probably some Buddhists and atheists in the mix as well. 

So, are religious institutions people too, my friend? 

If anyone has threatened religious freedom and liberty, it’s the Catholic Church. It wants nothing to do with contraception, even when that means denying healthcare options for non-Catholics. Even as groups like the Catholic Health Organization come out in support of women’s contraception. Even as President Obama announces a further compromise to the mandate, asking insurance companies to pay for the services. Even then, Catholics balk. 

Not that I’m insensitive to the beliefs of other people, but we aren’t talking about the right of Catholics to hold beliefs. They can believe what they want about the morning after pill. This is about an employer denying workers a portion of their healthcare coverage. How long before other businesses deny their workers something based on belief? Entire markets would find religion for just that purpose. 

And as an afterthought, I’m not wild about tax exemption for religious institutions; I just don’t have a “league” behind me to organize. Yet.