While much of the objection to the Supreme Court's ruling to uphold Obamacare on Thursday included talk about the loss of individual liberty, Christian and conservative legal groups point out that religious freedom is still in jeopardy as well.
The court's ruling did not address the religious liberty issue
regarding the constitutionality of the "HHS mandate," that requires
religious employers to pay for contraception, abortifacients and
sterilization despite holding religious objections.
"The HHS mandate is the first exception to our national commitment to protect religious conscience in the abortion context – a tradition that has been bipartisan for forty years," explained Kim Colby, senior counsel for the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom.
By adopting, in the HHS mandate, an extremely narrow definition of "religious employer," the Obama administration has unilaterally and unacceptably redefined religion, the Christian Legal Society argued Thursday.
"In the administration's view, religious institutions are only protected if they are entirely inwardly focused. Religious institutions that provide assistance to all persons, regardless of religion or creed, are penalized," the legal group continued. "Churches and charities that ease government's burden by providing food, shelter, education, and health care for society's most vulnerable lose their conscience rights because they are too inclusive."
Colby insisted, "It is wrong for the government to penalize religious groups because they help persons regardless of their religious traditions."
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"The HHS mandate is the first exception to our national commitment to protect religious conscience in the abortion context – a tradition that has been bipartisan for forty years," explained Kim Colby, senior counsel for the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom.
By adopting, in the HHS mandate, an extremely narrow definition of "religious employer," the Obama administration has unilaterally and unacceptably redefined religion, the Christian Legal Society argued Thursday.
"In the administration's view, religious institutions are only protected if they are entirely inwardly focused. Religious institutions that provide assistance to all persons, regardless of religion or creed, are penalized," the legal group continued. "Churches and charities that ease government's burden by providing food, shelter, education, and health care for society's most vulnerable lose their conscience rights because they are too inclusive."
Colby insisted, "It is wrong for the government to penalize religious groups because they help persons regardless of their religious traditions."
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