Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
A Ricochet member sent along a note wondering why there hasn't been more coverage of the nationwide rallies being held Friday to protest the draconian measures by HHS that will force people to fund abortion drugs, sterilization and contraception, even if they have religious objections.
There has been very little mainstream media coverage of these rallies, part of a trend of hyping some rallies and hiding others. And yet somehow, despite the horrible media coverage of this issue, there's enough interest to host rallies in some 120 cities across the country.
My family cares deeply about this issue and so I'll be bringing my children to the rally in DC at the HHS headquarters on Friday at noon. All rallies will take place at noon local time.
You can find more information about those rallies here. And the National Catholic Register reports on the upcoming rallies here. If you'll be going to the DC rally, let me know!
The great religious liberty expert Douglas Laycock explains why this HHS mandate is such an attack on liberty:
The labels for the after-the-fact pills say that they may sometimes work after fertilization. Asking Catholic institutions to pay for something that they believe sometimes results in homicide is a grave threat to religious liberty.
The bishops’ principal legal claim is under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — RFRA. RFRA says that the federal government may not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion, unless the imposition of that burden is the least restrictive means to serve a compelling government interest. The government says that its compelling interest is in adequate medical care for women.
But the government cannot claim an interest as compelling if it fails to protect that interest in any important range of cases. And the contraception mandate has enormous gaps. The health-care reform act does not apply to employers with fewer than 50 employees, which leaves 20 to 40 million employees uncovered. It does not apply to grandfathered plans, of which there seem to be a great many. They may remain grandfathered for many years. And the Department of Health and Human Services has reportedly granted thousands of administrative waivers to employers who were initially covered. McDonald’s got a waiver on the ground that it can’t afford to offer full coverage for its low-income employees. When the government is willing to make tens of millions of exceptions, it cannot credibly say that its interest is so compelling that it cannot make exceptions to protect the free exercise of religion.
These exceptions also support a claim directly under the Constitution. The Supreme Court has said that the Free Exercise Clause does not require religious exceptions from laws that are neutral and generally applicable. But a law with tens of millions of exceptions is not generally applicable. Nor is it neutral; it reflects a value judgment that McDonald’s low-wage business model is more important than the bishops’ freedom of conscience.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
I should drop a leave slip for Friday. It will be denied because of "mandatory training" we're having that day, but it would create a great story of the government telling me I couldn't take an earned day off work to stand up for religious liberty and exercise my political speech.
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Thanks for posting about this Mollie. I actually had no idea these were happening. And it turns out there's one in San Francisco at the Federal Building at 7th and Mission. I may try to make it down to get some photos and interview some of the ralliers.
May '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Oy Diane. I'm worried the protesters of the protesters will be the greater crowd and unruly. So if you go down there -- just stay safe.
Jun '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Trace Urdan
Oy Diane. I'm worried the protesters of the protesters will be the greater crowd and unruly. So if you go down there -- just stay safe.
I hope the mandate supporters show up to hand out free condoms. It'll just make the point that this birth-control mandate is totally political. It's not about cost, or access. It's about making the Catholic Church's teachings irrelevant.
Mar '12
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
*sigh* None near me, which is weird, as I live outside the NY State capital, Albany. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting some legislators up here.
I understand why these are held on a weekday, but I wish they were outside of standard working hours too. My husband and I can't leave in the middle of a working day or get the day off, but I'd go after work ended.
Feb '12
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Thank you for this, Mollie. I informed my contacts via email, asking them to spread the word as well, and I will try to attend.
Aug '11
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Mollie, Thank you. I hadn't heard about this and will be attending the rally in Portland because of your post. In fact, U-Choose, one of our local limited government educational organizations, is holding a meeting on March 29th. I will be one of the speakers and we will have a speaker from the Archdiocese of Portland and a nationally known attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund. The focus will be on First Amendment and the gradual incursions we have tolerated on our First Amendment rights. It will not be focused on the contraception or abortion issues, although those will certainly be used as examples.
http://u-choose.us/node/91
If you are a Ricochet member in Portland, please consider coming. I know that there are Ricochet members in Portland, I would really like to meet some of you.
Dec '11
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
To frame the issue in other terms, it is like a person who wants to drop a hammer and wants the government to buy them steel toed boots.
It really seems like a losing battle when the idea of freedom is not the ability to choose various ways of living but freedom from the consequences of ones choices. How do you debate people who live in such a reality free world?
Aug '11
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
"It really seems like a losing battle when the idea of freedom is not the ability to choose various ways of living but freedom from the consequences of ones choices. How do you debate people who live in such a reality free world?"
Beautifully expressed.
Jun '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
I heard about this yesterday at Mass, my Bishop, Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, is one of the scheduled speakers.
Jun '11
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Molly, I’m working on being there. It’s very important to me too. I’d like to invite supporters of the Second Amendment to stand with us. If this administration puts a knife in the heart of the First Amendment, an attack on the Second Amendment will be next. Count on it. Consider that this president publicly assured us that conscience rights would be protected under ObamaCare.
Aug '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Thank you, Ms Hemingway. I'll be at the one in Hartford or the one in New Haven, 12noon Friday. I'm calling my boss to tell him I might be late for work at 4pm, because this is too important--much too important-- to skip.
Aug '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Re comment# 8 : It's like a person who wants to keep driving drunk, and wants others to be forced to repeatedly supply him with a new car, money for fines and a new driver's license.
Edited on March 20, 2012 at 12:27amRe: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Wow! Our own Mama Toad will be speaking at one of these rallies! How cool is that!
If you're near Goshen, go support!
Aug '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
Re comment#14Very cool. I just talked my husband into driving to Goshen. We'll go there instead.
Jun '10
Re: Will You Rally For Religious Freedom?
cbc: Mollie, Thank you. I hadn't heard about this and will be attending the rally in Portland because of your post. In fact, U-Choose, one of our local limited government educational organizations, is holding a meeting on March 29th. I will be one of the speakers and we will have a speaker from the Archdiocese of Portland and a nationally known attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund. The focus will be on First Amendment and the gradual incursions we have tolerated on our First Amendment rights. It will not be focused on the contraception or abortion issues, although those will certainly be used as examples.
http://u-choose.us/node/91
If you are a Ricochet member in Portland, please consider coming. I know that there are Ricochet members in Portland, I would really like to meet some of you. · 8 hours ago
I'll do my best to get there. I have a meeting I can't get out of until noon, but hopefully I can slip out.