Obamacare, Nebuchadnezzar, and Religious Liberty

What does the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have to do with the Obamacare mandate that forces religious employers to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients? John Stonestreet with the Chuck Colson Center makes the connection.

Listen:

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/point/2014/TPT504092014.mp3|titles=John Stonestreet – A Choice from Justice Nebuchadnezzar]

“A freedom that comes with a tax or punishment isn’t freedom at all,” Stonestreet says. “Inalienable rights aren’t bought.”

When the government tries to tax or penalize someone for exercising a fundamental right, the government is encroaching on liberty. In the case of religious employers who find contraception, sterilization, and abortion morally objectionable, the government is issuing a clear ultimatum: Either compromise your deeply-held religious convictions, or pay a stiff fine.

To put it another way, employers are free to operate their businesses according to their moral convictions if they’re willing to pay the government. In the case of Hobby Lobby–one of the companies suing over the contraception mandate–this “conscience tax” would amount to millions of dollars per year.

Courts have ruled private corporations enjoy constitutional liberties such as free speech and freedom of the press. Why shouldn’t they also have religious liberty? And why should religious business owners be taxed for obeying their convictions?

There simply is no sensible way to justify it.

Family Businesses Winning Against Obamacare’s Contraception Mandate

Family-owned businesses are slowly making headway against Obamacare’s contraception mandate.

The mandate would require these businesses to purchase employees health insurance that includes coverage for contraception, abortifacients, sterilization, and similar items or face excessive fines.

So far 19 out of 26 plaintiffs have won stays against the mandate.

Read more here.

From ADF: Obama Administration Retreats on Abortion Pill Mandate

According to a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom, a federal appellate court has dropped an appeal by the Obama administration at the administration’s own request.

The appeal was in response to a preliminary injunction issued against the administration’s contraception mandate as it applies to Bible-publishing company Tyndale House. Under Obamacare’s rules and regulations, Tyndale must provide its employees with health insurance that covers contraception and abortion-inducing drugs; the company does not qualify for a religious exemption under Obamacare.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Tyndale House Publishers say the administration is apparently nervous about trying to defend its position that a Bible publisher is not religious enough for a religious exemption to the mandate.

This marks another major victory in the legal battles over rights of conscience.

Click here to read more from ADF.