Religious Freedom and Healthcare
James F McGrath | November 2 | Patheos.com
In recent weeks I’ve regularly heard Catholic bloggers and commentators complain that the new healthcare legislation infringeson their religious liberty, since it will require them to pay for coverage which will allow their employees to get contraception and other things that are against Catholic teaching.
Something didn’t sit quite right with me. Today I realized what is wrong with this sort of claim – and as so often happens, the secret to spotting the problem was simply to insert some other religious group into the equation.
Should Christian Scientist employers have to pay for employees’ healthcare at all? Should Jehovah’s Witness employers have to provide insurance that covers blood transfusion?
The problem with the argument that some Catholics and even Evangelicals have made against the Affordable Care Act is that it is trying to make religious freedom regarding healthcare a matter for the employer to decide rather than the individual.
Here is a portion of a post from a colleague in ministry that is worth a few minutes of your time as voting begins for some and draws near for others of us.
Just… stop… talking.
Peace Babe – October 26, 2012
I understand that many different professionals have to come together in order to make policy surrounding issues such as abortion, rape, birth control, medical care for my uterus, etc. but you can also make sure you understand this clearly, and focus on YOUR profession, leaving those other professionals to do their jobs. I have never been pregnant, I have never been in the situation of needing to make a decision about an abortion, nor have I ever been raped. But I am a woman, I am a theologian, and I am a minister. Those three things alone make me qualified to tell you to STOP TALKING AND LISTEN.
I am not advocating that you have agree with my personal decisions, nor compromise your own personal beliefs. However, leave the job of professionals up to those professionals. Use them as guides and help along the way but actually LISTEN to them as you work together, doing YOUR job, not the job of others.