Government Interference in Religion

The current controversy on the Obama mandate that Catholic institutions provide free contraceptives to their employees despite their religious objection to it is more than just a religious liberty violation. The government doesn't have the constitutional right to mandate that any employer provide to his employees anything other than a fair wage and safe working conditions.

Lorelei Spring of Euless addresses it as a government rights issue. That is the very antithesis of the basis of our Constitutional. Our Constitution operates on the theory that the government has no rights -- the rights belong to the people. She says that if the mandate is a violation of the First Amendment, why can't Mormons practice polygamy. They can, Lorelei. Their plural marriages are not recognized by the state, but they are free to take as many "religious" wives as they want. She wonders why church members who believe in racial or gender superiority can't elevate one race or gender over another. They can. The government cannot tell a church what to do. If my church doesn't believe in women preachers, they can refuse to hire a preacher on that basis. If my church believes in separation of the races, my pastor does not have to marry a bi-racial couple. Lorelei wonders why members of a pacifist church can't deny their tax money be used in support of a military cause. That's being worked on, Lorelei. Legislation establishing a "Peace Tax Fund" has been proposed in Congress since 1972. As of 2008, the proposal is called the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act. 

Lorelei says that federal laws such as that one requiring coverage of birth control were passed to protect the minority from discrimination. The Catholic church is not discriminating. The Catholic church doesn't provide birth control to anybody. Besides, protection from discrimination has nothing to do with providing free birth control pills. No one is saying that Catholic employees can't have birth control. But the government has no right to mandate that the church pay for it. She says the rights of individuals are being sacrificed on the altar of freedom of religion. Excuse me? Isn't freedom of religion all about the rights of the individual? Free hormones is not a RIGHT! She says individuals should be allowed to practice individual conscience. I agree. An individual should not be forced to pay for something that is morally repugnant to him.

"A question of rights." The Dallas Morning News; February 16, 2012; p. 12A.