Obama's Unacceptable "Accommodation"

At Mirror of Justice, Prof. Robert George writes:

... This so-called “accommodation” changes nothing of moral substance and fails to remove the assault on religious liberty and the rights of conscience which gave rise to the controversy. It is certainly no compromise. The reason for the original bipartisan uproar was the administration’s insistence that religious employers, be they institutions or individuals, provide insurance that covered services they regard as gravely immoral and unjust. Under the new rule, the government still coerces religious institutions and individuals to purchase insurance policies that include the very same services.

[...]

The simple fact is that the Obama administration is compelling religious people and institutions who are employers to purchase a health insurance contract that provides abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization. This is a grave violation of religious freedom and cannot stand. It is an insult to the intelligence of Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience to imagine that they will accept an assault on their religious liberty if only it is covered up by a cheap accounting trick.

Finally, it bears noting that by sustaining the original narrow exemptions for churches, auxiliaries, and religious orders, the administration has effectively admitted that the new policy (like the old one) amounts to a grave infringement on religious liberty. The administration still fails to understand that institutions that employ and serve others of different or no faith are still engaged in a religious mission and, as such, enjoy the protections of the First Amendment.

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Prof. George also links to the text of a statement drafted by Prof. George, John Garvey, Mary Ann Glendon, Carter Snead, and Yuval Levin, and signed by dozens of scholars, university presidents, and others, rejecting the accommodation as a mere accounting trick that does nothing of moral substance to eliminate the mandate's unjust and unconstitutional imposition on religious freedom and the rights of conscience.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Before and After

And While They're At It ...

Sr. Carol Keehan ...

NO COMPROMISE !!!

Obama to Catholics: Caring for "Least of These" is "Religious Obligation" for Me, But NOT for Thee

Obama Administration Gives Opponents of HHS Mandate All the Evidence They Need to Convince Court of Free Exercise Violation