If You Believe Corporations Have Religious Beliefs…
… then would you be okay with your employer paying you with a debit card that didn’t work at liquor stores, casinos, etc.?
I’m asking because the Supreme Court begins hearing the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga cases today.
Tags: Birth Control, SCOTUS
I don’t have any faith in this court. (Thanks for the shitty campaign Al Gore!)
(FYI I’m a seething kettle of toxic bile today. I better just check out now.)
Yes. Surprisingly how it really all boils down to that one campaign. Now 14 years ago? Sort of a game changer as was Waterloo.
Although with less credibility, the same could be said for single screech… 10 years ago this past January.
Here is Senator Chris Coons statement on this issue:
http://www.coons.senate.gov/newsroom/releases/release/statement-from-senator-coons-as-supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-sebelius-v-hobby-lobby
Statement from Senator Coons as Supreme Court hears arguments on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement Tuesday as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. The case challenges a requirement of the Affordable Care Act that qualifying health insurance plans offer women access to birth control at no cost.
“A woman’s choice in birth control should be between her and her doctor, period. The religious beliefs of the woman’s employer should have no role in it whatsoever. As the Supreme Court hears arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. today, the reproductive health of millions of women is on the line. Hobby Lobby’s main argument — that the corporation should be allowed to deny its female employees insurance coverage for contraception that its owners find religiously objectionable – is fundamentally discriminatory against women, particularly those who lack the financial means to pay for contraception out of pocket.
“The First Amendment protects the rights of an individual to freely practice his or her religion, but I take issue with the notion that for-profit corporations are capable of religious belief. Hobby Lobby is a nationwide chain employing more than 13,000 full-time employees and earning more than $2 billion in annual revenue. It is organized as a for-profit corporation and its owners receive all of the benefits that go along with that structure. The argument that such a business – as opposed to its owners – has religious beliefs is a regrettable, if predictable, consequence of the deplorable Citizens United decision. By bringing this case, Hobby Lobby is trying to elevate the religious beliefs of its owners over those of the vast majority of Americans who see no conflict between their religion and safe, legal methods of contraception. If the Supreme Court were to accept this argument, the next case will be about a business owner who wants to use religious freedom to exempt a business from offering any healthcare at all, or who wishes to discriminate against LGBT employees in violation of state law, or against African-American employees or customers in violation of state and federal law. Our Constitution allows and respects all religious beliefs, but it does not provide an excuse for businesses to escape the responsibilities of generally applicable laws.
“Decisions about a woman’s health care options should be made in a doctor’s office, not in a boardroom. If certain contraceptive options violate a woman’s personal religious beliefs, she is free not to pursue those options, but her employer should not be allowed to make that decision for her. It is my sincere hope that the Supreme Court rules against Hobby Lobby on this matter, and prevents the further abuse of religious exemptions for discriminatory corporate policies.”
So what if your employer is a Christian Scientist? That employer would object to the entire business of insurance because they just don’t do scientific medicine. Or if your employer is Jehovah Witness? Because they don’t do blood transfusions. What if Jenny McCarthy creates a religion that doesn’t allow vaccinations?
The entire business is pretty crazy, because the corporation doesn’t have a religion and that corporation should get out of the way and let its employees live their lives in accordance with their own beliefs.
Jason thank the Greens not Al Gore.
It really boggles the mind. First, people supporting Hobby Lobby have to stop pretending that employee health insurance is a gift given by the employer. It is not. It’s earned compensation, that employees pay into. In essence, Hobby Lobby wants control over what their employees buy with their paycheck, hence my reference to paying employees with a debit card that doesn’t work at certain establishments.
Also, I’m so tired of these religious cherry picking arguments. If a corporation wants to say one thing goes against their religious beliefs then they had better damn well be held to every single one of their religion’s beliefs.
Coons is sure lucky Republicans oppose birth control.
From Salon:
The fastest growing religious faith in the United States is the group collectively labeled “Nones,” who spurn organized religion in favor of non-defined skepticism about faith. About two-thirds of Nones say they are former believers. This is hugely significant. The trend is very much that Americans raised in Christian households are shunning the religion of their parents for any number of reasons: the advancement of human understanding; greater access to information; the scandals of the Catholic Church; and the over-zealousness of the Christian Right.
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Political scientists Robert Putman and David Campbell, the authors of American Grace, argue that the Christian Right’s politicization of faith in the 1990s turned younger, socially liberal Christians away from churches, even as conservatives became more zealous. “While the Republican base has become ever more committed to mixing religion and politics, the rest of the country has been moving in the opposite direction.”
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BY 2062 there will be more “nones” than Christians.
Would this be an issue if we got rid of the employer mandate and stopped giving favorable tax treatment to fringe benefits like health insurance?
In all, everyone should buy insurance individually. Problem solved.
Davy: Apparently the concept of group purchasing has escaped you entirely.
@Geezer:
So, you want fewer people buying insurance on the exchanges?
Also, could the employer mandate apply to a sole proprietorship? Does the RFRA not protect a sole proprietor, one whose business is not incorporated? What about a corporation with a single stockholder? What about a Delaware public-benefit corporation that includes a religious motivation in its certificate of incorporation or bylaws?
Davy: I didn’t realize you were talking about putting everyone on the exchanges. You said “individually,” which is the market that gouges people the most.
I don’t know the answers to the rest of your questions.
The only reason this problem exists is because we don’t have a single payer system (like the rest of the civilized world). Only in America could we have such a ridiculous problem.
Agreed. And we don’t have single payer because we don’t really have a Democratic Party. And we don’t have a Democratic Party because bipartisanship rocks.
Actually, the system in France is not single-payer, and it’s rated No. 1 in the world.
Found today in The Smyrna-Clayton Times:
http://blogs.e-rockford.com/applesauce/2014/03/26/why-should-jewish-companies-be-forced-to-cover-illnesses-caused-by-consumption-of-pork/#axzz2x5v7oia2
This is the quickest way to bring Sharia law to the US.
Just wait and see what the other religions do…