Religious Liberty Can Still Trump ObamaCare

 

By Marco Rubio
NYPost.com

Religious freedom is a core American principle, one that our Founding Fathers enshrined in the Constitution and called on future generations of leaders to preserve and protect.

Despite our deeply rooted heritage of religious liberty, the Obama administration recently issued a mandate under ObamaCare that will require church-affiliated organizations to offer their workers private-insurance coverage without out-of-pocket charges for birth control, something they are morally opposed to. In doing so, the administration ignored efforts by numerous faith-based organizations to be granted an exemption on religious grounds.

From a practical standpoint, this will force Catholic organizations to make an unacceptable choice: Ignore a major tenet of their faith, or not provide any insurance to their employees and be punished with a federal fine for violating ObamaCare’s mandate on employers.

As Americans, we should all be appalled by an activist government so overbearing and so obsessed with forcing mandates on the American people that it forces such a choice on religious institutions.

In response, I have introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, a bill to establish a firm religious exemption to this insurance requirement under ObamaCare. It’s a narrowly focused, common-sense measure that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith.

This bill, as well as Sen. Roy Blunt’s similar Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, sends a clear message against the Obama administration’s assault on religious freedom.

To be clear, the bill does not forbid women from pursuing birth control and other affected products. If an employee wants birth control, that worker could simply pay for it themselves or just choose to work elsewhere. What it does forbid is having government force religious entities to provide them.

This sad episode is a reminder that, while America has always been a force for freedom at home and abroad, the dangers of an overreaching government are not merely confined to the economic and national-security spheres.

Our commitment to religious freedom is part of what makes Americans exceptional. It’s something that unites us as a people, across the political spectrum. That’s because if there’s something liberals and conservatives should be able to agree on, it’s that religious-liberty rights enshrined in the Constitution trump this administration’s disdain for them.

President Obama has gone too far. He should admit his mistake, provide this religious exemption and reaffirm America’s commitment to religious liberty.

Otherwise, Congress should act to force him to do it by approving the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012.

Marco Rubio, a Republican, represents Florida in the US Senate.