Religious groups and conservatives are up in arms over the regulation in the health care reform law which mandates employers to offer contraception options to employees who are covered under their employer health insurance plans. Each side maintains that it has valid points; yet according to the U.S. Constitution the arguments made by these religious organizations carry little weight, if any at all.
While religious organizations claim the First Amendment grants them he right to run their business as they desire, what they seem to disregard is that it also grants the ability of the patient to not be burdened by any particular groups’ religious agenda. This is a complex situation, but in the end the individual’s rights must not be usurped by another’s rights, especially since the individuals in question are actually living persons and the businesses are merely constructs and therefore not entitled to protection by the U.S. Constitution.
But, let’s for one moment use the conservative argument that corporations are people with the same rights thereof, and that the First Amendment applies to religious groups as well. While not in the U.S. Constitution directly, our society’s laws and the Bill of Rights for the most part were founded upon the philosophy of “one person’s rights end where another person’s rights begin.” Following this ideal, even if these religiously-affiliated groups are considered people, they have no right to force their personal views on other individuals.
Still, there is going to be the argument made that religious freedom is guaranteed in the First Amendment, and as such religious organizations can do whatever they want to whomever they want as long as it is a part of their religious doctrine.
Well, that is just completely unfounded nonsense…
Actually, in one of the wisest decisions made by our Founding Fathers, the First Amendment guarantees freedom from religion; that the government will neither condone nor condemn any religion, or lack thereof. This means that according to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot give religious groups preferential treatment, including in regard to an exemption from providing contraception in their health care coverage to employees.
Still, this battle will wage onward, as it has since the founding of our nation. Religious institutions will likely argue that they have received preferential treatment in the past from the government, so why not now? Rather, it is time to remove the existing preferential treatment given to churches and other religious groups.
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