Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
Just last week people in churches throughout the land heard the parable of the Good Samaritan. Yesterday we learned the story of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus. In my pastor's sermon on that portion of Scripture, he reminded us how these stories are about serving our neighbor, regardless of whether those neighbors share our trust in Christ. More importantly, of course, they are about Jesus showing undeserved mercy on us sinners.
But Christians who believe in acts of mercy to any in need, as opposed to only those who share their religious views, just aren't Christian enough, according to the Obama administration. In fact, they're not even religious, according to the bureaucracy.
In new rules about which organizations may receive an exemption from onerous regulations requiring them to pay for contraceptives, sterilization and other services that may violate church teaching, Health and Human Services explained what makes for a true religious group.
Here is their definition:
Group health plans sponsored by certain religious employers, and group health insurance coverage in connection with such plans, are exempt from the requirement to cover contraceptive services. A religious employer is one that: (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organization under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(a)(1) and section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii).
Emphasis mine.
So you can get an exemption if, and only if, you primarily serve your coreligionists and make the inculcation of your religious beliefs the primary means of your charitable work?
At this point, I'm not even sure I can think of any of the thousands of religious charities that would meet this test.
As the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops wrote:
As the law reads now, to follow HHS rules and qualify for an exemption, many Catholic institutions would have to violate their very mission and refuse service to non-Catholics. They’d have to fire hard-working employees. To maintain their religious integrity, they could be forced to stop providing employee insurance benefits. Or they’d have to close down, a step that would not benefit a nation where one out of six persons seeks hospital care in a Catholic institution. It would also hurt the millions who receive social services and counseling through Catholic Charities; bread, milk and cereal from parish food pantries; and other types of assistance from additional church-run agencies.
Great work, Obamacare! The violation of conscience protections is just the cherry on top, eh?
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Jan '11
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
You can't just help people ... you have to actively sell Catholicism?
Political people can't imagine others not being political.
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
Great piece over at Public Discourse laying out the problems with this religious exemption.
Apr '11
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
The bishops don't acknowledge the Catch-22 bind their social democrat prejudices have gotten them into. They have, without a cry or a whimper, become part of the State's absorption of society.
As the government hoovers up ever larger parts of the cash available for charity, Catholic hospitals and other social service agencies have had to take government funds to support their activities. They become government contractors and must tone down their religious identities to met the supposed 1st Amendment restrictions on the Federal government. The Obamcare regs on mandate exemptions in effect say if you are secular enough to be a government contractor, then you are not religious enough to get a conscience exemption from our so-secular-they-are-inhuman coverage mandates.
The bishops' plight arises from the Democrats acting like the Fascists they are and the bishops not acting like the Catholics they are supposed to be, with an assist from the idiocy of our 1st Amendment jurisprudence.
Jun '10
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
Am I right that this administration represents the greatest challenge to religious freedom in history?
Oct '10
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
This seems symptomatic of larger problems in our society with the concept of ideological tolerance. I'm reminded of the old line, "I may disagree with what you're saying, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it." Attacking the culture and heritage of others in a pique of nihilism is wrong. It's also the sort of tactic that, if successful, leads to mass uprisings and factional/sectarian/ethnic/racial conflict.
Jan '11
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
Put not thy trust in princes.
The sad truth is that a large chunk of those Democrats are supposedly Catholic themselves. Disobedience about abortion was only the tip of the iceberg.
Jun '11
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
This wouldn't pose much of a problem if you're a body with open pulpit and altar fellowship, right? In other words, the less confessional the body, the more likely you'll pass muster. Exactly the intent I would think.
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
In this case, it's actually the opposite. I mean, most churches would qualify under this definition above. What would NOT qualify, however, are the vast majority of Christian charities. If you did have some kind of soup kitchen that only served Christians and existed to catechize the beneficiaries, they would get an Obamacare waiver. Everyone else would not. It's really a way of going after Catholics and other religious adherents who oppose abortifacients and birth control ...
Jun '11
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
In this case, it's actually the opposite. I mean, most churches would qualify under this definition above. What would NOT qualify, however, are the vast majority of Christian charities.
Hmmm... I see your point. My thought was that if your charity was aligned with fuzzy religious tenets then you'd qualify more easily. But there really aren't many of consequence aligned w/ squishy-confessional bodies, are there?
Dec '10
Re: Jesus Christ Himself Wouldn't Get Obamacare Religious Exemption. Really.
You say that like it's a bug, not a feature.
You guys know what religion WOULD qualify easily though, right? It's got this cool crescent shape in the emblem, can't miss it . . .
Soon or later the squishes amongst us are going to have to own up to the fact that these people do nothing by accident.
Edited on Sep 26, 2011 at 6:14pm