Posted on 07/26/2012 4:38:10 PM PDT by chessplayer
(CNSNews.com) - The Justice Department last week presented the Newland family of Colorado--who own Hercules Industries, a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business--with what amounted to an ultimatum: Give up your religion or your business.
“Hercules Industries has ‘made no showing of a religious belief which requires that [it] engage in the [HVAC] business,” the Justice Department said in a formal filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
The Newlands currently run a self-insurance plan, providing their employees with generous health-care coverage that is consistent with the teachings of the Newlands' church in that it does not cover sterilizations, contraception and abortifacients. They are precisely among the class of people that the unanimous Catholic bishops said have “no conscience protection at all” under Sebelius's regulation.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Probably one of the saddest stories that I have read. My there be an double-toast high heat for members of the Zero administration on this one. In fact, eternal damnation is rally not strong enough...
Precisely.
They keep pushing - this will result in a blowback that will do no one good.
Would you want YOUR employer to cut your benefits, and be thrown into a government insurance plan that probably doesn’t even exist as of yet? (Remember, the “collectives” aren’t even up and running yet - and, they might never be...).
Also, what about the employers right to freedom of religion in that they shouldn’t have to pay for services that violate their conscience and beliefs? That’s probably more serious in this case, because it’s going to be this way for ALL employers who have a moral dilemma when it comes to abortion funding, and Birth Control funding. Do you really think it’s a good thing that the government can do this to anyone?
Why isn’t this business eligible for a waiver like the unions and other gigantic corporations that Obama has excluded from needing to pay for — like MUSLIM-OWNED businesses? Do you see a pattern? This is ONLY affecting devout Christians and Catholics because the others are getting exemptions.
Uhhhhh,no.....they donate enough to do as they please, don’t cha see?
Ok, one more time. The plural of a Kennedy is Kennedys - you add an S at.the end. Not Kennedy’s.
Fire your government.
>>This is ONLY affecting devout Christians and Catholics because the others are getting exemptions.<<
If the devout Christians and Catholics want to continue to bow and bend to this half breed then they deserve to lose everything they refuse to fight for.
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.~Pastor Martin Niemöller
Community and individuality are not opposites. People cannot survive on their own. When the odds are stacked against you, you must rally with the oppressed and hated.
When a growing oppressive regime is taking hold, you must act, otherwise you will soon face your enemy alone and hopeless.
Strength of community is a strength as much as individualism, as long you are willing to face weaknesses in your own community. Ignoring slacking values will mean that you will be rallied against by those you oppress.
Niemöller affirms we must rally against unhealthy organized regimes. We must also stay vigilant with those that appear to be good natured, as all organisation attracts corruption. Niemöller also warns us that if it is you who are corrupt, then you will face a stronger combined force of foe!
~Vexen Crabtree
Are they going to close down Chick Fil A which is run by a Baptist and has Bible verses in the bathrooms?
Whose 91 year old founder is still teaching a boys Sunday School Class
They can’t do this to Catholics unless they do it to Muslims, Jews, baptists,etc.
THIS IS INCREDIBLE.
Only one solution to this...obama needs to lose.
Shades of the 1930’s in Germany
Interesting, and disgusting. This isn’t America anymore under the current lot of thugs.
Mrs. RQSR made the interesting observation: “Curious as to who is using their influence with the Obama DOJ to eliminate competition in the HVAC industry”.
“Someone wanna mail em the First Amendment? ...”
If by “em” you mean Obama and his purple shirts, the entire Bill of Rights has no relevance.
Re your post 23:
I agree the situation sucks. It’s heavy handed and the application of exemptions to cronies is corrupt.
However, I don’t see the “or shut the business down” as a necessity. Look at it this way:
If the employees share the same values as the employer, they wouldn’t be forced to use the abortion services. Further, even if the government plan is crappy, the caring employer could provide extra funds (the difference between the fine and what they had been paying) for an HSA.
If this isn’t acceptable, one might say that the employer is imposing his religious beliefs on the employees—if his objection is that their coverage would then ALLOW them to use abortion services.
I don’t like the government’s interference here any more than you do, but I don’t think it has to be a “or shut down your business” situation.
That's a reasonable inference. They could probably keep their employees happy by taking the difference between what they are currently paying and the fine, and putting it into employee HSAs, which would probably pick up the care quality differential.
I actually did shut down my business, gradually after the Dems started their rapid government expansion in 2006 and getting rid of my last employees shortly after Obama's election. There is a time when that is the right option, and they might do far more good for America by shutting down over an abortion mandate that violates the First Amendment and their God-given rights than they would do by installing HVAC systems.
That’s a choice, though, not a forced decision.
I sold my business and retired during the last administration. There’s no way I’d roll the dice and start one now, under this one.
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