Saturday, October 12, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Sunday, July 13, 2014
Hobby Lobby: Overwrought Divisions?
By Heritage Foundation @ 4:01 PM :: 5990 Views :: First Amendment, Religion

This Law Makes Sure Big Government Can’t Crush Religious Freedom

by Jennifer Marshall, Heritage Foundation Daily Signal,  July 13, 2014

The pitch of public controversy surrounding cultural issues—especially those related to women and reproduction—can give the impression that we live in an intractably divided society with incompatible differences.  But the Hobby Lobby decision suggests that such a tone is overwrought.

The Supreme Court’s opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell correctly discerned in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) a way to navigate public life together despite our deep differences. RFRA provides the kind of mechanism we need to balance contrasting beliefs and competing values in our pluralistic society.

That explains why it passed Congress nearly unanimously and was signed by President Clinton in 1993 with the support of a broad coalition that included organizations from the Southern Baptists to the ACLU.

When conflicts emerge between government interests and religious freedom, RFRA enables those competing interests to be weighed in court according to clear criteria. The claim must be a substantial burden on religious freedom, and the government must show it has a compelling interest, pursued through the least-restrictive means.

The Court concluded that, “under the standard that RFRA prescribes, the HHS contraceptive mandate is unlawful.”

“If the owners comply with the HHS mandate, they believe they will be facilitating abortions, and if they do not comply, they will pay a very heavy price,” the majority opinion reasoned concerning the crippling fines—an estimated $1.3 million per day for one company—imposed by HHS for non-compliance. “If these consequences do not amount to a substantial burden, it is hard to see what would.”

The Hobby Lobby decision allows the Obama administration to pursue its policy objective of providing no-cost contraception through other means. Meanwhile, the evangelical Green family of Hobby Lobby and the Mennonite Hahn family of Conestoga Wood Specialties may continue to run their family businesses consistent with their faith.

One need not share the religious convictions of the Greens and Hahns concerning the sanctity of unborn human life to conclude that they should not be coerced to violate their beliefs by including potentially life-ending drugs and devices in their health plan. Nor does one need to have the moral scruples of a Catholic nun to agree that the Little Sisters of the Poor, which ministers to the elderly and is involved in one of the nonprofit challenges to the mandate, should not have to facilitate health insurance for contraception.

RFRA does not allow religious claims to automatically trump any government interest. The government could assert a compelling government interest—such as the maintenance of public health and safety—pursued through the least restrictive means, and prevail. As the Hobby Lobby opinion itself stipulates, “this decision concerns only the contraceptive mandate and should not be understood to hold that all insurance-coverage mandates, e.g., for vaccinations or blood transfusions, must necessarily fall if they conflict with an employer’s religious beliefs.”

Overlooking such precision, and characteristic of the fraught discourse that attends these cultural debates, Justice Ginsburg’s dissent attributes “startling breadth” to the Court’s opinion. In her view, it establishes that commercial enterprises “can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

As the majority opinion notes, Ginsburg’s “dissent reveals that its fundamental objection to the claims of the plaintiffs is an objection to RFRA itself.” The Washington Post put a sharper point on it, calling for Congress to roll RFRA back, undoing the work that has served our nation well for two decades.

Even if we can’t agree, the American order has given us good tools for agreeing to disagree. RFRA is one such tool, and we should prize it.

---30---

Originally posted on the Berkley Center.

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii