-By Warner Todd Huston
In a momentous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to review the Constitutionality of provisions in Obamacare that force religious institutions and companies owned by religious owners to fund contraception in their employee healthcare policies.
The Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
One of the cases against Obamacare was brought by the arts and crafts supply company Hobby lobby which is owned by the religious Green family. Their religious principals, the Greens say, forbid them from engaging in abortion or contraception but Obamacare forces them to pay for such things in their employee healthcare plans whether they want to or not.
This mandated coverage, the argument goes, is unconstitutional because it forces religious business owners and religions institutions to pay for things that go against their religious principals.
To explain his decision Hobby Lobby’s CEO wrote,
When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s Word.
From there, Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.
(See also: BREAKING: Speaker Boehner is Now Signed Up for Obamacare)
A second case was brought by a company called Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp which is owned by Mennonites. They, too, say that the provisions in Obamacare go against their religion.
So, at last the Supreme Court will get the opportunity to decide if we still have religious freedom or if Obama can take away our rights by regulatory fiat.
Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) praised the Court’s decision to hear the case.
“At this time of Thanksgiving, we remember our forefathers who fled religious persecution to pursue freedom of conscience in the New World. How sad that today Obamacare forces religious institutions and business owners of faith to violate their religious beliefs or face crippling fines. The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to freely exercise their religion and no Congress or President has the authority to undermine this fundamental right. The Supreme Court should strike down the Obamacare requirements that force people to violate their faith in order to stay in business.”
Joshua Hawley: Associate Professor of Law at University of Missouri and Of Counsel to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, was similarly impressed with the Court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today to hear Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the contraceptive mandate is an important moment for religious freedom. Family entrepreneurs like the Greens, who own Hobby Lobby, should not have to surrender their religious beliefs in order to do business in this country. Our nation has always allowed people who start and run a business to do so according to their most deeply cherished religious convictions. Businesses like that have made our society a better place. The Supreme Court now has the opportunity to reaffirm this important constitutional right.”
Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, former law clerk for Justice Scalia, former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he hopes Obama is repudiated by the Court.
“The Obama administration takes the radical position that Americans who own a business have no religious–liberty rights in how they operate their business if their business is incorporated. Under its position, a Jewish family that owns and operates an incorporated kosher deli could be compelled to serve pork and to remain open on the Sabbath. Let’s hope that the Supreme Court once again repudiates the Obama administration’s extreme hostility to religious liberty.”
Let’s hope this section of Obamacare is struck down and Americans are again assured of their freedom of religion.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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