The proper role and scope of government

[TheMercenary]

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Obama is going to lose big on this in the issue of birth control in Catholic Hospitals as well as damage his public image among a huge voter block (I hope).

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Obama is going to lose big on this in the issue of birth control in Catholic Hospitals as well as damage his public image among a huge voter block (I hope).

I strongly deny that requiring Catholic employers to pay for insurance for their employees which covers contraceptionand abortion in any way impedes said Catholic employer from practising their religion.

What is going on is that the Catholic employer is trying to FORCE their religion (i.e. anti-abortion stance) on their employees, and THAT is a violation of the employees' right to freely practise THEIR religion which may well allow abortion.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I strongly deny that requiring Catholic employers to pay for insurance for their employees which covers contraceptionand abortion in any way impedes said Catholic employer from practising their religion.

What is going on is that the Catholic employer is trying to FORCE their religion (i.e. anti-abortion stance) on their employees, and THAT is a violation of the employees' right to freely practise THEIR religion which may well allow abortion.

Now, now, that is total bull shit.

Those employees have the perfect Right to go anywhere they want to "Peruse happiness", as protected by the Constitution, or they can work somewhere else. If you have ever worked in a place like a Catholic Hospital, and when you sign your contract, you accept the work conditions and those include probation's against "stuff", tow the line or move on.... not really difficult, not illegal, not discriminatory. You sign on the dotted line to do what they want you to do or you move on, not a big deal. You choose to work there under THEIR conditions or you choose to work somewhere else. Not complicated.

[tw]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Those employees have the perfect Right to go anywhere they want to "Peruse happiness", as protected by the Constitution, or they can work somewhere else.

More important in America, nobody imposes their religious beliefs on anyone else. Religion is only a relationship between one man and his god. No man ever imposes his religious beliefs on anyone else - not even his employees. Churches do not like such realities. Because it says the church cannot tell others how to think.

Only American civil law is relevant and fundamental here. We also do not ban driving on the Sabbath. That restriction would also make a religious institution nothing more than Satan worshippers. Does your church tell its employees that they cannot drive on the Sabbath? Of course not. Because a church is only an adviser. It has no business imposing its beliefs on anyone.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Obama is going to lose big on this in the issue of birth control in Catholic Hospitals as well as damage his public image among a huge voter block (I hope).

Full page ad in today's Washington Post (this is being seen by most eyes in Congress this morning.)

[Lamplighter]

The Catholic Bishops say it's not about contraceptives !
It's also about gay marriage and loss of control over their flocks.

NY Times
LAURIE GOODSTEIN
February 9, 2012
Bishops Were Prepared for Battle Over Birth Control Coverage

When after much internal debate the Obama administration finally announced
its decision to require religiously affiliated hospitals and universities to cover birth control
in their insurance plans, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops were fully prepared for battle.

Seven months earlier, they had started laying the groundwork for a major new campaign
to combat what they saw as the growing threat to religious liberty,
including the legalization of same-sex marriage.
But the birth control mandate, issued on Jan. 20, was their Pearl Harbor.<snip>

On the day of the decision, bishops across the country posted similarly dire statements on their Web sites,
and at Mass on the following Sundays, priests read the bishops’ letters from their pulpits and wove
the religious freedom theme into their homilies.<snip>

The ruling issued by the Department of Health and Human Services,
said that only religious organizations that primarily employ and serve their co-religionists
would be exempt from the requirement to provide insurance that covers birth control.
Churches are therefore exempt, but Catholic hospitals, service agencies and colleges are not.

The White House said that 28 states already had such mandates, so this federal rule,
which is part of the health care overhaul just applies the mandate uniformly.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

The Catholic Bishops...

And there are a few hundred of them of them. A drop in the bucket in a country of 100 million active voters.

I'm technically Catholic, and I'm pro contraception. Every Catholic I know is pro contraception. I'm also pro-choice, and about half the Catholics I know are also pro-choice.

Just because the bishops are upset with Obama doesn't mean catholic voters are. And the ones who are, were probably not going to vote for him anyway.