Church And State

Notice that I didn’t say Church v. State because I don’t think it should be a battle, that both should be able to get along.

There has been much debate over whether or not employers should be forced to provide contraceptives to their employees. The Catholic Church is suing the federal government saying it interferes with their First Amendment religious beliefs. Last week there was a rally sponsored by a “Family” conservative organization in New Haven, CT. The rally was reported in the CT Mirror…

While hundreds of Connecticut residents rallied in New Haven against abortion and federal requirements that religious organizations cover their employees' contraceptives, officials at the State Capitol complex took up a measure on whether the insurance everyone will have to purchase under the federal health law will cover the procedures.

And in one opinion article the writer who is the wife of the head of the organization that lead the rally said,

This mandate threatens the First Amendment rights of Catholics and other religious people immediately, but also, if left unchecked, the religious liberty and First Amendment rights of everyone.

OK let’s go back and look at what they said… “religious organizations” first off there is a big difference between a religious organization and a business or school that is owned by a by a religious organization. Churches and other properties that are used for religious purposes are exempt from having to supply contraceptives. Hospitals, colleges, pavilions, apartment houses and other places of public accommodation that are owned by religious organizations have to supply contraceptives to their employees. Notice the difference, organizations that are strictly for religious purposes are different from businesses and schools that are open for all the public to use. Once you open your doors to the public, you become just like any other organization and have to obey all the laws, the First Amendment no longer applies.

In 2007, a lesbian couple wanted to rent a pavilion on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove NJ that was owned by a Methodist organization for their civil union vows and they were refused by the Methodist organization. The couple filed a discrimination claim against the church organization. The administrative judge ruled…

NEWARK – A state administrative law judge has ruled that the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination when it denied Ocean Grove residents Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster the use of its boardwalk pavilion for their 2007 civil union ceremony. The association had allowed members of the public to rent the pavilion and had never before declined a permit other than for scheduling conflicts until it received Paster and Bernstein’s reservation request. The association rejected the couple’s application to use the space, stating that civil unions violated its Methodist doctrine.

“The Camp Meeting Association could have used the pavilion exclusively for its own purposes,” said Lawrence Lustberg of Gibbons, P.C., who represents the couple as a cooperating attorney for the ACLU-NJ. “The judge found, however, that the association opened the pavilion up to the public and thus was obligated to follow anti-discrimination laws.”

Once they are hiring any person for employment no matter what their religious beliefs or serving the public, the business must follow all laws. This is about contraceptives, but if it true for that, it would also be true for labor laws, environmental laws and anti-discrimination laws. A hospital run by a religious organization could easily refuse to treat a trans-person by claiming it was against their religion.

Another point that I want to make is that most of these businesses that are run by religious organizations receive public funding in one way or another. Colleges receive research grants and tuition loans, apartment buildings receive HUD backed mortgages and hospitals receive Medicare and Medicaid payments. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association “received a tax exemption from the state Green Acres program, which provides exemptions to non-profit organizations who use their property for recreational or conservation purposes. An important condition of the exemption is that the property be ‘open for public use on an equal basis.’” Once you receive public funding, even if you are a religious organization then you give up your religious exemption.