A federal judge ruled that the Constitution trumps religion. “In America even sincere and long-held religious views do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted,” U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in Louisville argued.
What a fool.
Not to be outdone, “At a press conference Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said people with religious beliefs who disagree with the ObamaCare contraception mandate can choose their faith or ‘you don’t have to form a corporation.’
“‘You’re born with a religion or you adopt a religion. You have to obey the precepts of that religion and the government gives you a wide penumbra—you don’t have to form a corporation,’ Schumer said.”
Schumer claims that religious protection is only for an individual’s personal views. It does not apply to persons who own and operate a business. The business is not protected by the First Amendment.
Once a person opens a business, according to Schumer, the government has ultimate claim on that business. Once a business sells to the general public, that business loses certain constitutional rights.
The Hobby Lobby ruling by the Supreme Court has driven liberals insane.
“When we wrote RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] back in 1993 we did so to protect individuals with strong religious beliefs and give them the presumption they have always enjoyed; that they should be able to exercise their religious beliefs without interference from the government. The court took that and applied it—misapplied it—to for-profit companies who exist for the purpose of benefitting from the open market, working in the marketplace under our laws.”
Laws mean nothing to liberals if they can’t interpret them. They’ll vote for anything that will give them political cover because they know that the real power of a law is in its interpretation.
A business sells goods and/or services. People buy those goods and services. No one is forcing a business to sell anything, and no one is forcing people to buy anything. The transactions are voluntary.
Moreover, no one is forced to work at Hobby Lobby. If people don’t like the religious views of the owners of a company, they are free to start a competing business and offer any benefits they want.
What business is it of the government’s what benefits an employer offers to its employees? An employee can take them or leave them. No harm—no foul.
As has been repeated numerous times, no employee at Hobby Lobby is being denied anything because of the religious views of the owners of the company. If Schumer does not know this, then he has no business being in Congress. The least he should do is keep his mouth shut, because his comments are more than ignorant—they are fascist. You either comply with how we tell you how to spend your money (your religion be damned) or don’t start a business.
What is it about the First Amendment that people like Chuck Schumer do not understand? The first five words are very clear: “Congress shall make NO law. . .” About what? “Prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. Religion aside, what right does the Federal Government have to force businesses to pay for baby-killing drugs? This is the bigger question, one that is ignored by the Left and not often brought up by those on the Right.
I’ll go further. Why should government be empowered to force businesses to pay anything to employees other than what was contracted when an employee was first hired? If I own a business and post a job offer, the conditions of that employment are stated in the interview. A prospective employee can take it or leave it. If it turns out that I’m unable to get good employees because I don’t pay enough or offer certain benefits, it should be my decision and only my decision to make changes to my hiring policies.
Will Christian business owners be forced to paint a cross on their stores like the Star of David that Jewish businesses in German-occupied lands painted on their shops? Will we see signs with Verboten pasted on shop doors and windows of Christian businesses because of opposition to baby-killing abortifacients and Christian schools opposing same-sex sexuality?
Don’t ever say it can’t happen here.
There are theologians who claim that Christians are ordained to suffer in this world, so if persecution comes, it’s all part of the Christian’s walk with Jesus. If this is true, then why did Paul escape from persecution?
In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands. (2 Cor. 11:33; Acts 9:25)
On another occasion, Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship instead of suffering physical harm at the hands of the Roman government for the sake of the gospel (Acts 22:23-30). At one point he appealed to Caesar (25:11).
Paul used God-sanctified wisdom when needed. He did not declare that, because his citizenship was in heaven, all earthly relationships were of no consequence.
Civil government is God’s creation. How is it possible that people who claim to believe the Bible will not apply the Bible to the realm of civil government? The civil magistrate is a “minister [διάκονός] of God” (Rom. 13:4). Dιάκονός (diakonos) is the Greek word translated “deacon” and is used not only of civil magistrates but of ministers in ecclesiastical government (1 Tim. 3:8, 12; Phil. 1:1).
We are entering a dangerous period in our nation’s history because ministers of God’s word are silent on the issues of the day.
Pastors should be using their pulpits to preach the “whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27), especially on the issues that are pressing hard against our freedoms.
A quotation attributed to Martin Luther comes to mind:
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not professing Christ, however boldly I may be proclaiming Christ. Wherever the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.
In the end, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 529), and that includes pastors who fail in their ministerial task as shepherds of God’s flock (Ezek. 34:2).