Conscience Protection, Relgious Liberty and the HHS Mandate

I just read of the owners of the billion-dollar U.S. Business, Hobby Lobby, having filed suit to prevent having to implement the HHS Mandate due to their deeply-held religious and moral convictions. This is a “Christian family who...,” according the the article, “...will be fined $1.3 million a day for not complying with Obamacare?” This is an example of just one of the thousands of businesses, both public and private that are being called upon to violate their consciences by being mandated to implement the provision of the HHS Mandate (as defined by HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius) which requires ALL employers of 50 persons or more to include free coverage of sterilization, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs as a part of the health care coverage they offer to their employees. Many other public institutions as well as private companies have now filed suit against the U.S. Government, HHS and/or Secretary Sebelius seeking redress from this overt violation of our Constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of religion: to wit, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

RIGHT NOW our religious liberty in this country is in severe jeopardy, if the HHS (Health & Human Services) Mandate is allowed be be included as the "law of the land" under the new health care law (Obamacare). This includes not only serious government mandates upon public AND private employers, but also threatens the right to conscience protection, which is particularly concerning for health care providers who have religious and moral objections to carrying out (or being complicit in carrying out) the mandate. The penalties (which, in August of this year, was ruled to be a tax by the Supreme Court) that would be imposed on institutions or companies and other organizations that refuse to include what, to them, are objectionable insurance coverage provisions in the policies they offer employers would be SO outrageously severe as to have the effect of bankrupting or otherwise, shutting such institutions, companies, or other organizations down.  


In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."