Obama Respects Religious Liberty...Yeah, Right

President Obama has told the Catholic Church to go to Hell, but don't worry America.  He says he respects religious liberty.

A prominent Catholic bishop said it seems Obama has told them to go to Hell with the federal mandate that forces religious employers to provide contraceptive (including abortifacient drugs) insurance coverage to their employees. When this was first proposed the Catholic Church - and others - objected and asked for a conscience exemption.  They were insulted by an Obama Administration response that the rule "reflects careful consideration of the rights of religious organizations" and that a one-year grace period would be provided to comply!  Yeah, I guess you could say this was a bureaucratic way to say "go to hell."

Now, after the Catholic Church, other faith-based organizations, and many liberty-loving Americans objected to this violation of the First Amendment, the Obama Administration has offered an accommodation. The accommodation suggests that the insurance company – not the religious organization – will offer free contraception, to include abortifacients, and thus this will not violate the religious beliefs of a faith-based organization. Where do you suppose the insurance company is going to get the money to pay for the free contraceptives?  Of course in the real world there is nothing free and employers, including religious organizations and even the small business owner who has moral objections to the mandate, will ultimately pay for the insurance.

This is nothing more than a rhetorical technique offered by Obama - rhetoric over reality.  There is no acknowledgement by Obama or his accomplice, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, that this mandate is a violation of the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. And this is a violation of all our religious liberties.  One does not have to be an adherent of the Catholic Church teaching on contraceptives, or be opposed to abortion-inducing drugs for that matter, to see that the federal government is requiring people of faith to go against their religious beliefs. 

Religious liberty is very dear to Americans. It separated us from all other nations at our founding.  My Baptist forefathers fought (and some died) for the right to worship and exercise their religious beliefs without government interference.  Religious liberty is a major part of what makes us America.

President Obama does not have the authority to offer an accommodation on this matter.  Tragically, he doesn't acknowledge that there is something much bigger than his agenda here.  It's called the Constitution.  He cannot offer careful words that legitimize stealing our God-given rights. (Can you believe his audacity to say in the same breath he respects religious liberty in his decision?)

I pray that Congress will act as it should and check this violation of our rights.  They must pass legislation that repeals or prohibits the executive branch from acting in this way.  I also hope this awakens America to the awful intrusion Obamacare will be in our lives.  This may just be the foreshadow of tyranny if Obamacare comes to fruition.