Religious Freedom

[snousle]

With this dust-up over Catholic nonprofits being required to pay for their employees' contraception - why has nobody asked the obvious question? Replace "Catholic" with "Jehovah's Witness" and "contraception" with "blood transfusions". Why should JW's be compelled to pay for a practice THEY consider sinful?

Comments

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

Do the JW's operate a lot of publicly-funded hospitals the way the Catholics do? I wasn't aware of a lot of JW nonprofits serving the community.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

The Watchtower Society gets nearly a billion dollars in revenue. I would be pretty sure they employ at least a few non-JWs in their organization and provide them with healthcare. Thing is, it's the principle that matters, and creating religious exemptions for contraception coverage opens the door for many more exemptions that could be quite distasteful.

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

So you are taking the libertarian position, that government should not interfere with employer-provided healthcare?

What distasteful exemptions do you mean?

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I can think of one such possible distasteful exemption right away: Not being treated at an Emergency Room in a nearby Xtianist hospital because I'm openly gay. "Sorry, sir, I'm the only doctor on duty, but I don't treat gay people. You'll have to wait until a new doctor comes on duty, or go to the hospital across town."

Or how about an employer whose health insurance won't pay for allergy treatments if you're a smoker? Or one that won't pay for breast cancer reconstruction because it was "God's will" that you got cancer?

Religion doesn't belong in politics OR insurance.

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

"Religion doesn't belong in politics OR insurance."

Agreed.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I was nearly hoping you were going to say "Amen!"

;)

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's really an issue for Catholics; one of the few things I admire about them is their end-to-end consistency on the value of life, unlike some evangelical Protestants that on the one hand decry abortion but on the other support capital punishment. (In spite of the fact that I disagree with them on abortion and a wide range of other things.) I can see a clear argument that hospital staff are serving the purpose of protecting life when they have to work on Sundays, and can attend to the details of faith later.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

I am taking the position that the government should have strong requirements for healthcare plans offered by employers, including contraception. Once we have guaranteed-issue insurance available then employers should get out of the loop entirely, but there should still be regulations that prevent patients from getting jerked around. Not libertarian.

[broduke2000.livejournal.com]

1) While it's true that JW's are a pain in the ass going door-to-door and trying to convert people.

2) While it's true when they were knocking on my door, I stooped down to the 5 year old, smiled, and said: "Wow! Someday you could be like me and ride motorcycles!"

3) It is also true that they NEVER immerse themselves in politics. You will see no anti-gay money for Prop 8 coming from JW's. You will see no preacher telling their flock that they gotta vote Republican or otherwise, they'd go to Hell.

[kevynjacobs.livejournal.com]

I certainly agree with you.