Health Care v Religion

I didn’t think that the Health Care bill should require religions such as Catholic to disseminate contraceptives via their medical plans; I thought that they should refer people to an organization that would give contraceptives if they’re requested. On February 6, 2012 Romney said – We must have a President who is willing to protect America’s first right, a right to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscious. Santorum said the Obama administration has been hostile to people of faith, particularly Christians and specifically Catholics. These comments got me thinking about religion as it relates to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Per ushistory.org the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 says – When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The Preamble of the Constitution of September 17, 1787 says - We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Per radical.org/co-globalize/BillofRights.html the First Amendment to the US Constitution in regard to religion says - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

I believe first and foremost that the US stands for equality and the intention of the first amendment was to ensure that we not have a single religion in our country. This means we as a country do not support the beliefs of a single religion, that US policy is made on what the majority of the country feels is best. For example: 2% of the country is Mormon – we do not allow polygamy and the Mormons in this country are to obey the law of the land (which Romney does). Religions that require women to dress in a certain way such as the covering of their faces is not allowed as well as putting them to death for failing to comply with their religion. On January 30 an Afghan family living in Canada was found guilty of ‘honor killings’ of 3 teen girls and the first wife because they defied strict rules on how to dress and used the internet to socialize. The same conclusion would have resulted in the US. Religions such as Scientology and Jehovah Witness that have medical procedures that they do not participate in are still bound by our laws when it comes to their children; last year parents were convicted for the death of their 12 year old child as they failed to allow doctors to administer chemotherapy. We don’t allow Baptists who don’t believe in sparing the rod to be exempt from going to jail when they abuse their children. Suicides and rapes are condoned by some religions and not others and we have laws not religious convictions that govern these issues. The same goes for other religions or cults like that of non-Mormon Warren Jeffs of Colorado City, Arizona who reportedly had 87 wives. On January 4 we heard about a Polyamorous family (a woman, 2 men and a baby) where each is free to date outside the household. Researchers say Polyamorous relationships are growing; there are currently about 500,000 in the US. I’m assuming these multi-partner relationships exist because they don’t follow government guidelines of getting a marriage license. On December 2 we heard an Afghan woman jailed for being raped received a rare pardon. On December 28 thousands of Israeli protested the ultra orthodox treatment of women. These places are questioning their practices. On January 21 an Indonesia man was charged with blasphemy and facing 5 years in prison for putting an atheist comment on Facebook; we don’t do that in the US because we go beyond religion to govern our people in an attempt ‘to form a more perfect Union’, one better than other nations governed by religion, it allows us to be free to worship as long as such promotes the general welfare of the people. On February 7 I heard that the issue regarding the Health Care rule that takes effect in August 2013 is about the Catholic medical plans offering contraceptives free of charge. Some are wondering if this will cause Catholic run facilities to drop care as contraception is against their religion; the President is open to a compromise. It bothers me that the concerns are over religion and money and instead of the welfare of the people. Only because of this possible result do I think religious run facilities should be allowed to make a referral for contraceptives; they should not be exempt from offering. I believe that the use of contraceptives is a way to reduce government spending. Federal money is not used to fund abortions and children born of religious beliefs (those born outside of marriage and abandoned or abused because couples are not ready to have children) are currently not being funded by their religious affiliations; perhaps this should be another solution to reducing welfare, adoption and foster program costs.

Whatever the solution we must make sure that a precedent is not set that would discontinue the laws we have that protect Americans from the abuse and hardship that comes along with religious beliefs.