Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Catholic Bishops and ObamaCare (the Affordable Health Care Act)

Today, I posted a response to someone on Politco.com. The poster was upset with President Obama for not giving Catholic employers a pass on providing birth control to their employees. I thought it was worth posting here, with some editing and some additional comments.

I am a Roman Catholic. At first, I was upset with Obama for not giving the church a pass on the birth control thing. But, then I thought about it. If Catholics get a pass, where does it end? People who work for Jehovah's Witnesses can't get blood transfusions? People who work for Christian Scientists can't get ANY health care? Don't you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE?

No matter what the Roman Catholic bishops are saying, they HAVE an out. ALL employers do. All they have to do is NOT provide health care, pay the fine AND the employee can go and get whatever they want on the open market. The employee is better off. They get what THEY want, not what their employer wants. If the church feels honor bound to pay for health care, they can give their employees a raise, and come to Catholic congregations and ask for more donations to pay for it. I'd GLADLY add some bucks to the collection plate if it was ONLY for health care for Catholic employees.

If this is really about "religious freedom" and not birth control, why has the Catholic Church (and other faiths) NOT been screaming for the past 235 years that Quakers should NOT have to pay taxes that go for the military? I am FOR the military, but most Quakers are pacifists. They believe war is murder, just like Catholics believe some forms of birth control are murder. Yet, Quakers are FORCED to pay for the military in their taxes year after year. They have lost every lawsuit because 1) few supported THEIR religious freedom and 2) the law must allow for the greater good.

If Quakers have to pay for the greater good, why shouldn't Catholics?