WASHINGTON, DC (CNSNews.com):
President Barack Obama-whose administration is being sued by
multiple Catholic dioceses, universities, charities and
family-owned businesses for violating their First Amendment
right to the free exercise of religion-told a group of Muslims
dining at the White House on Friday that freedom of religion is
"foremost" among the God-given rights of man and that he intends
to defend it both within the United States and abroad.
"Of all the freedoms we cherish as Americans, of
all the rights that we hold sacred, foremost among them is
freedom of religion, the right to worship as we choose," said
Obama.
"It's enshrined
in the First Amendment of our Constitution--the law of the land,
always and forever," said Obama. "It beats in our heart--in the
soul of the people who know that our liberty and our equality is
endowed by our Creator."
Obama spoke these words at the Fourth Annual
Iftar Dinner at the White House. (During the Islamic month of
Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to
sunset. They then have a fast-breaking meal known as iftar. This
year, Ramadan began on July 20 and will end on Aug. 19.)
In his iftar speech, Obama's phraseology seemed
to define freedom of religion as merely "the right to worship as
we choose." The First Amendment, however, does not use the
phrase "freedom of religion" or the word "worship." Rather, it
expressly prohibits the government from prohibiting the "free
exercise" of religion--meaning government cannot coerce people
anywhere in their lives (whether in or outside a house of
worship) to act against their consciences or the teachings of
their faith.
President
Obama did not use the First Amendment's term "free exercise" of
religion anywhere in his Iftar Dinner speech.
(The First Amendment guarantee for the "free
exercise" of religion, for example, protects the right of an
individual to voluntarily convert from one religion to another.
According to the U.S. State Department, however, this right is
not recognized in some Muslim-majority nations. "Converting from
Islam to another religion is considered an egregious crime under
Islamic law," says State's recently released report on religious
freedom in Afghanistan. Similarly, State's report on Egypt says:
"The government interprets Sharia as forbidding Muslims from
converting to another religion.")
Earlier this year, Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finalized a regulation, under the
Obamacare law, that requires virtually all health plans in the
United States to provide cost-free coverage for sterilizations
and all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives,
including those that induce abortions. A very narrow religious
exemption in this regulation essentially only extends to houses
of worship per se. Religiously affiliated hospitals,
universities and charities are not exempted. Private businesses
owned by people whose religious faith forbids their involvement
in sterilization, contraception or abortion are also not
exempted.
Because the
Catholic Church teaches that sterilization, contraception and
abortion are intrinsically immoral and Catholics cannot be
involved with them, the HHS regulation forces Catholic
hospitals, universities and charities, Catholics who own
businesses required to provide health insurance under Obamacare,
and Catholic workers forced to buy insurance under Obamacare, to
violate the teachings of their faith.
In June, the U.S. Catholic bishops unanimously
adopted a statement explaining this fact and condemning the
regulation as an "unjust and illegal mandate" that violates
"personal civil rights."
"The HHS mandate creates still a third class,
those with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in
their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with
their faith and moral values," said the unanimous Catholic
bishops. "They, too, face a government mandate to aid in
providing 'services' contrary to those values-whether in their
sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their
payment of insurance premiums as employees; or as insurers
themselves-without even the semblance of an exemption. This,
too, is unprecedented in federal law, which has long been
generous in protecting the rights of individuals not to act
against their religious beliefs or moral convictions."
Since May, numerous Catholic institutions and
business owners have filed federal lawsuits against the Obama
administration, arguing that the regulation violates the First
Amendment. The plaintiffs include, among others, the Archdiocese
of New York, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the
Archdiocese of St. Louis, the University of Notre Dame ,
Catholic University of America, the Eternal Word Television
Network (EWTN), O'Brien Industrial Holdings (a Missouri-based
group of ceramics companies), and Hercules Industries (a
Colorado-based heating, ventilation and air-conditioning
business.)
Notre Dame summarized the issue clearly in its lawsuit filed
against HHS Secretary Sebelius, Treasury Secretary Timoth
Geithner and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
"The Free Exercise Clause protects organizations
as well as individuals from Government-imposed burdens on
religious exercise," says Notre Dame's suit.
"Abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception
violate the Catholic beliefs and tenets to which Notre Dame must
adhere to according to the Church's magisterial teachings and
the Catechism of the Catholic Church," says the suit.
"Notre Dame's religious beliefs," says the suit,
"preclude it from offering health care plans to its employees
and students that include or facilitate coverage for
abortifacients, sterilization, contraception, or related
education and counseling about those practices."
"If the Government can force religious
institutions to violate their beliefs in such a manner, there is
no apparent limit to the Government's power," Notre Dame said.
The regulation took effect on Aug. 1, and Notre
Dame's lawsuit and many others are moving forward.
Yet, when Obama appeared last week in Denver,
Colorado, he was introduced by Sandra Fluke. Fluke is the recent
Georgetown Law School graduate who gained national notice
earlier this year when she appeared before the House Democratic
Steering Committee to promote the HHS regulation and to
criticize Georgetown for not providing students with health
insurance that provides free contraception.
At the Denver event with Fluke, Obama boasted of
the HHS regulation and claimed he had worked with Catholic
universities and hospitals to protect their religious liberty.
"And now most health plans are going to begin
covering the cost of contraceptive care," Obama said.
"And listen, we recognize that many people have
strongly held religious views on contraception, which is why we
made sure churches and other houses of worship, they don't have
to provide it, they don't have to pay for it," Obama said. "We
worked with the Catholic hospitals and universities to find a
solution that protects both religious liberty and a woman's
health."
Obama
mentioned nothing about the ongoing lawsuits against his
administration by Notre Dame, Catholic University, Franciscan
University and other colleges. Nor did he say anything about the
ongoing lawsuits by Catholic dioceses and charities. Nor did he
say anything about protecting the religious freedom of Catholic
laypersons-who, as the Catholic bishops unanimously pointed
out-will be forced by Obama's regulation to act against their
faith.
At the end of
his White House Iftar speech, Obama noted the recent murderous
attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
"The attack on Americans of any faith is an
attack on the freedom of all Americans," said Obama. "No
American should ever have to fear for their safety in their
place of worship. And every American has the right to practice
their faith both openly and freely, and as they choose.
"That is not just an American right; it is a
universal human right," Obama said at that White House Iftar
Dinner. "And we will defend the freedom of religion, here at
home and around the world."
