Posted on 10/04/2012 7:37:15 PM PDT by Morgana
Last week, a federal district judge in Missouri dismissed a case against the HHS mandate, ruling that forcing Catholics to pay for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs does not violate their faith, because they remain “free to exercise their religion, by not using contraceptives.”
In her ruling, Judge Carol E. Jackson contended that the mandate does not prohibit a business owner’s religious worship or personal decision not to use contraceptives, echoing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ contention that the new mandate does not “affect an individual woman’s freedom to decide not to use birth control.”
“This Court rejects the proposition that requiring indirect financial support of a practice, from which plaintiff himself abstains according to his religious principles, constitutes a substantial burden on plaintiff’s religious exercise,” she wrote.
Judge Jackson’s opinion correlates with the Obama administration’s separation of “freedom of worship” vs. “freedom of religion,” alleging that as long as the owner can go to church, there is no Constitutional violation.
Frank R. O’Brien, who employs 87 people at O’Brien Industrial Holdings in St. Louis, filed the lawsuit out of concern that the federal regulation will force him to either violate his conscience or watch his business wither under the weight of fines the Obama administration promises to levy for his non-compliance.
O’Brien’s is one of more than 30 federal lawsuits against the health care act’s most controversial provision, which requires virtually all employers to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs as part of their insurance plans.
O’Brien’s attorneys are expressing optimism in the face of the court decision, expecting the Court of Appeals to deliver a more favorable ruling for their suit.
Francis J. Manion, senior counsel with the American Center for Law and Justice, told the press the position is so extreme that “it’s a position the government itself doesn’t take.”
The mandate itself provides exemptions for religious institutions, but businesses that are owned and operated by religious people do not fall under that exemption.
Some have questioned, if Judge Jackson is correct and the mandate does not violate anyone’s conscience, why there is a religious exemption at all.
The mandate was promulgated by Sebelius, a Catholic who has been repeatedly under fire for supporting abortion and contraception in contradiction to Church teaching.
Huge blind spot, which hopefully will get fixed at the appellate level. Would it be any more right if Baptist churches had to fund liquor for their parishoners?
Who died and made her God?
________________________
She becomes a god when the Church bows to her will.
So the Church must stand strong.
The Democrat party has declared war on the Catholic Church. As a Catholic I am saddened that apostate Catholics like Sebilius, Biden, Pelosi are leading the charge.
So to be clear:
If YOU pay for something, the fact that you pay for it don’t mean squat.
But if the FEDS pay for something, they OWN YOUR SOUL.
And if you love your dog, you won’t resist.
Hey, that means we can force Muslims to buy bacon now too, and provide BLTs for lunch for their workers right? They get the same screening at airports etc. None of that "modesty" stuff anymore, right judge?
Typical fascist rule. Want to practice your religion? Fine, pay this levy. ...
For MUSLIMS, of course, you idiot!
Absolutely stunning. So then force the Amish to pay into social security, but tell them to refuse the money when they’re eligible.
Let’s see in this election what percentage of Catholics and other Christians are practicing Christians or Christians in name only.
So this judge would have qualms about being forced to pay someone to kill puppies with a hammer, just as long as she personally didn’t have to swing the hammer.
Got it.
Is murder for hire still illegal, or does the same now apply to that?
We need to get back to my money, my choice and far, far away from all these ridiculous HHS mandates.
If they get away with this, it is the end of “choice” in what we do in our lives. We can be ordered by the government to commit murder. Then, in order to be faithful - live w/o state ordered murder of the innocent (old, handicapped or unborn and young) - we will end up in prisons and ghettos.
If we don’t unite and organize to permanently put the satanist statists out of power, we deserve persecution. Putting humanists in power over us and our children is a fatal act of disobedence to God’s law.
The judge is simply using the abortion argument. All tax payers have been funding abortion for decades and all of a sudden they want to stand up for their Constitutional rights. Sorry, you already gave them up long ago.
they just need to remove her from the bench.
no honor, no morals, no decency, no love of the Constitution they take an oath to.
just a bytch wanting it her way.
blessings, bobo
There is a lot of gray area between extremes.
Would we allow an anti-war protestor or an anti-capitol punishment protestor to refuse to pay taxes. No. We wouldn't. Why? Because the majority evidently feels the war is in all of our best interest, and while we are tolerant of conscientious objectors, it doesn't excuse them from the rule of law. And taxes are relatively indirect. They fund the government. The government in turn funds the war.
This is much less indirect than the war example. Unlike taxes, this is equivalent to ordering people to buy the bullets and supply them to soldiers to be used in a war they disagree with. And while there is the option of not providing insurance, it comes with large penalties and seems very unnecessarily discriminatory against those with long held religious beliefs.
I hope the circuit court overturns the ruling. But like abortion this is one of those areas where the people of America needs to rise up and say enough is enough.
What if the Feds order you, the owner of a private business that takes no government money, to pay for something that violates your beliefs, or pay them an exorbitant fine if you refuse?
-——Judge Jackson’s opinion correlates with the Obama administration’s separation of “freedom of worship” vs. “freedom of religion,”———
ridiculous nuance, like something from Alice in Wonderland
another Wellesley nationalist socialist
Judge Jackson’s ethnicity also correlates with Obama. Another communist agitator in power.
The judge is engaging in shallow liberal bumper sticker thinking along the lines of, “AGAINST ABORTION, DON’T HAVE ONE”. Such dumb pagans do not know that it is evil to cooperate in the sins of others.
“If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he[the wicked man] shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.” -Ezekiel 33:8
Dumbest judge ever.
Must have gone to the Barry Obama School of Law.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.