If we are to preserve our First Amendment rights, judges must refrain from telling plaintiffs challenging the HHS mandate that they’ve got their theology wrong.
Are judges more competent to determine what a particular religion requires or forbids than that religion’s own leaders or adherents? Most would think not. Yet that’s what two of the recent rulings related to the Health and Human Services contraception, sterilization, and abortion-drug mandate seem to claim.
Recently, in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, federal district judge Joe Heaton of the western district of Oklahoma ruled against the Greens, the devout Christian owners of Hobby Lobby arts and crafts stores. The Greens strive to operate their company in accordance with Christian principles, paying generous wages, closing earlier than most other stores so that employees can spend time with their families, and not opening on Sundays.
Like many Christians, the Greens object to the HHS mandate’s requirement to offer coverage for certain “emergency contraceptives,” such as Ella and Plan B, which they believe cause early abortions. These drugs can sometimes work by preventing or interfering with the embryo’s implantation, thus triggering a miscarriage.
The Greens claim that they cannot comply with the mandate because their religion forbids them to facilitate access to abortion. The mandate went into effect January 1, and since the Supreme Court denied the Greens' subsequent request for emergency injunctive relief, remaining faithful to their religious beliefs may cost them up to 1.3 million dollars per day in fines. It is worth noting that Judge Sotomayor's denial of Hobby Lobby's appeal is no indication of how the Supreme Court will ultimately rule on the HHS mandate cases, because the standard for granting emergency relief is more stringent than the standard for granting a religious exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
(Excerpt) Read more at thepublicdiscourse.com ...
