Well, at least the US Bishops are being consistent. I'd wondered, though, why they were protesting the idea of Catholic Church-owned institutions (universities, hospitals, bicycle stores) having to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, but not protesting how individual Catholic business owners, not institutionally part of the Church, would have to do so.
Well, they seem to be going there.
" The White House is "all talk, no action" on moving toward compromise, said Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "There has been a lot of talk in the last couple days about compromise, but it sounds to us like a way to turn down the heat, to placate people without doing anything in particular," Picarello said. "We're not going to do anything until this is fixed."
That means removing the provision from the health care law altogether, he said, not simply changing it for Catholic employers and their insurers. He cited the problem that would create for "good Catholic business people who can't in good conscience cooperate with this."
"If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I'd be covered by the mandate," Picarello said.'
So … if you're a Catholic employer, you shouldn't be required to provide insurance coverage for anything you deem immoral. Ditto if you're a Lutheran employer, or a Buddhist employer, or a Muslim employer, or an atheist employer, or a Zoroastrian employer, or a Jain employer, or a Christian Scientist employer, or …
And if you firmly believe that vaccinations are poisonous and therefore immoral, well, you shouldn't be required, as an employer, to offer them in your insurance coverage.
And, of course, taking ti further, if you're a Quaker, you should be exempt from 54% of your taxes, because it's a religious imposition to force you to pay for the Defense Dept. and Veterans Affairs. If your a devotee of Ayn Rand, you should certainly be exempted from paying any proportion of taxes for any welfare, or (if you are an employer) from taxes for Social Security. And …
Ultimately, of course, nobody should be required to pay for anything, since anyone can come up with moral objection to any particular government program or mandate. Maybe that's the idea. #ddtb
Embedded Link
Obama mandate on birth control coverage stirs controversy
Republican leaders join Catholic religious groups in denouncing President Obama's mandate that health insurers offer birth control coverage.
Why can’t they all just be honest and admit openly that what they really want is for Griswold v Connecticut to be overturned? There would be, of course, an exemption for politicians mistresses.