During last week there were a number of news stories about Roman Catholic organizations, with strong support by right-wing evangelicals, filing lawsuits against the new federal guidelines requiring contraception for women in everyone’s basic health care.
The New York Times has an editorial on Sunday that bluntly pushes back on the claim by those filing suit that their religious rights are being violated by the requirement.
“In 1993, Congress required government actions that ‘substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion’ to advance a compelling interest by the least restrictive means. The new contraceptive policy does that by promoting women’s health and autonomy.
And there was no violation of religious exercise to begin with. After religious groups protested, the administration put the burden on insurance companies to provide free contraceptive coverage to women who work for religiously affiliated employers like hospitals or universities — with no employer involvement.
This is a clear partisan play. The real threat to religious liberty comes from the effort to impose one church’s doctrine on everyone.”
H/T to Diana Butler-Bass