Why Americans Need to Pull the Reins on 'Religious Freedom'
Call it election-year politics or a media-induced frenzy, but the so-called "Birth Control Debate" or, as Fox News puts it (in classic fear-inducing, dramatic style) "The War on Religion" is actually bringing up an important issue: Americans need to put the reins on 'Religious Freedom'.
In a highly disturbing yet grossly under-reported Supreme Court decision last month, the high court decided that 'religious freedom' trumps the American Disability Act. Religion pitted against disability-- yikes! You might think that this presented the justices with a difficult decision. Apparently not: they unanimously struck down the plantiff's pleas for justice.
The summarized details of the case: Ms. Perich, a teacher at a private school, became sick and missed a term of teaching. The school 'asked' her to resign; when she refused, they fired her. She then tried to sue them, exercising her rights under the protections of the American Disability Act.
That is where it gets sticky. Religious institutions, in addition to special tax rules, have various other exemptions which serve to protect their religious freedoms, such as the "ministerial exception" which makes the hiring and firing of ministers exempt from anti-discrimination laws, such as the ADA. So was Perich, a teacher at a Lutheran school, to be included in this exception? According to the Sixth Circuit: no. But, according to the highest court in the land: yes.
Ms. Perich spent most of her time teaching nonreligious subjects with about a sixth of her time on religion classes, so the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit concluded that she was not a ministerial worker and that she could sue. In overturning that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the question could not be “resolved by a stopwatch” and that Ms. Perich’s limited teaching about religion helped qualify her as a minister.
So it was decided: religious schools and institutions, under this "ministerial exception" are allowed by the Constitution to fire any 'ministerial employee' (with a very loose definition), the sick and disabled included.
Flash forward to this month and the recent birth control debate, which stems from a mandate included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act. This mandate requires employers to provide birth control to all employees who want it, without an expensive co-pay. For family-planning agencies and for women who have taken birth control in their lives (which is reportedly about 98% of us) this was seen as a welcome relief from something that can cost up to $600 per year. For Catholics priests, this was seen as an infringement on their 'relgious freedom'.
Why? Well, large, private Catholic hospitals and schools are also employers who provide health coverage to their employees. Therefore, under this mandate, they will have to provide birth control, free of charge, to any employee who wants it. They claim that because birth control pills are a moral evil and go against their teachings, this mandate violates their religious freedom.
Republicans rose to the call, joining the bishops in saying Obama is waging war on religion and demanding he call off the mandate or make an exception. When Obama came up with a compromise some people insisted that it wasn't enough. That is when Sen. Roy Blunt crafted an act aimed at overturning this amendment, in the name of protecting religious liberty.
Blunt’s legislation, the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act,” would amend the federal health reform law to allow any employer or insuror to deny services that are “contrary to the provider’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
At this point you might be cheering along, scratching your head, or incredibly pissed off. What I want to argue, though, is that every single American should be afraid. [And I loathe the fear-mongering media and talking heads].
See, when Americans get all up in arms about religion and religious freedoms, they forget that it isn't only about their own religion. Just because everyone in your immediate circle and everyone you know on your block is a self-described Christian doesn't mean everyone in America is Christian. There are thousands of religions. Even in America, among the larger 'Christian' category we are splintered into hundreds of factions. And do you even know what all of these religions believe? Of course not, there are way too many to even try to grasp all their intricate differences.
So, when you get all fired up about protecting religious freedoms in America, do you really mean only your religious freedom? Or, perhaps, only Christian religious freedom?
If you want to go along with the Supreme Court's decision to exempt "religious employees" from the ADA and if you support the Blunt act that will allow employers to refuse certain health services to all of their employees simply because they have a "religious conviction" for doing so, then please be my guest.
However, when you are fired from your amazing job at a Catholic university because you suddenly fell ill or your Christian Scientist boss decides that your coverage won't include life-saving medications and surgeries, you might find yourself reconsidering the unlimited rein of religious freedom.
America: be careful what you wish for.
