From The House Media Division
Rep. Rebecca Hamilton announced today that she will file a resolution urging Congress to overturn new federal regulations that will require church organizations to fund activities they morally oppose, including abortion
“I believe these new HHS regulations are a deliberate attempt to force religious groups, in particular and specifically the Catholic Church, to cede their teaching authority regarding moral issues to the government,” said Hamilton, D-Oklahoma City.
Under regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Catholic hospitals will be required to provide coverage for abortifacients in employee insurance plans. The rule does not include a robust religious exemption for those whose moral beliefs are opposed to abortion except in very narrowly tailored cases that exclude hospitals, schools and other religious charities.
“This policy directly orders religious institutions to violate their own moral beliefs concerning core issues of the sanctity of human life. For years, I’ve heard the argument that Christians, if they don’t believe in abortion, just shouldn’t have one and leave the rest of the world alone. This policy goes the next step and says that Christian organizations must either provide abortion funding for their employees or close down shop.
“In addition the HHS regulations violate promises made to the American people and Catholic leaders who supported passage of the new federal health care law,” Hamilton said.
“I am very reluctant to attribute motives regarding public policy moves, but religious leaders, especially the Catholic bishops, have attempted to work with the government to change this policy for months. The issues have been thoroughly and publicly discussed. Supporters of the policy have made speeches demonstrating that they understand what they are doing and that they intend to do it anyway.
“All this leaves me with no option but to accept that this is a deliberate, almost malicious, attack on the religious freedoms of all Americans, but Roman Catholics specifically. It has every appearance of a calculated attempt to drive the Church out of participation in public life by forcing it to shut down its hospitals, aid organizations and other institutions. This regulation must be overturned.
“These rules violate the basic separation of church and state we all hold dear, and give the appearance of being a direct government attack on the rights of people of faith to practice their religion without government interference. Congress should not hesitate to overturn this intrusive, unnecessary and counterproductive regulation.”
Members of the Oklahoma Legislature will be able to take up the resolution after they reconvene on Feb. 6.
Questions about the government requiring or prohibiting something that conflicts with someone’s faith are entirely real, but not new. The courts have occasionally confronted such issues and have generally ruled that the government cannot enact laws specifically aimed at a particular religion (which would be regarded a constraint on religious liberty contrary to the First Amendment), but can enact laws generally applicable to everyone or at least broad classes of people (e.g., laws concerning pollution, contracts, fraud, negligence, crimes, discrimination, employment, etc.) and can require everyone, including those who may object on religious grounds, to abide by them. Were it otherwise and people could opt out of this or that law with the excuse that their religion requires or allows it, the government and the rule of law could hardly operate. When moral binds for individuals can be anticipated, provisions may be added to laws affording some relief to conscientious objectors.
Here, it may be questioned whether there is real need for such an exemption, since no one is being “forced,” as some commentators rage, to act contrary to his or her belief. Those with conscientious objections to providing their employees with qualifying health plans may decline to provide their employees with any health plans and pay an assessment instead or, alternatively, provide their employees with health plans that do not qualify (e.g., ones without provisions they deem objectionable) and pay lower assessments.
The United States government has no constitutional right to dictate practices which violate Biblical teachings (at least that was what the first few generations of citizens thought, fought for, and demanded). Our government does not have the constitutional authority to dictate business practices except when crossing state lines (even here with marginal intrusion into personal lives).
It is a shame that we as a people have buried our heads in the sand for so long that many of the power-hungry & selfish have become the “establishment”.