Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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Supreme Court sides with Hobby Lobby: A Victory for Religious Freedom

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Supreme Court sides with Hobby Lobby: A Victory for Religious Fr

Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the right of the owners of two corporations, Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation to refuse to provide forms of contraception that they consider forms of abortion is very significant.  While very narrow, the decision establishes the principle that requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are subject to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

In my most recent blog, I quoted Pope Francis’ statement that “religious freedom is not simply freedom of thought or private worship. It is the freedom to live according to ethical principles, both privately and publicly.” The decision reflects and implements the U.S. bishops’ consistent support for litigants from the non-profit and for-profit sectors alike who have challenged the HHS mandate in court.

On January 28, 2014 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, stated that “Catholics believe that the right to religious freedom proceeds from the inherent dignity of each and every human person, and that includes people who run businesses. They should not be specially excluded from the freedom to practice their faith in daily life.”

Policies of the Department of Health and Human Services implementing the ACA are not only onerous but impinge upon religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Christian persecution continues unabated

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A Coptic Orthodox bishop surveys a damaged church in late August in Minya, Egypt

Almost 1,700 years after the Edict of Constantine granted freedom of worship to Christians, persecution of the followers of Christ continues unabated. Speaking before an international conference on religious freedom in Rome, Pope Francis observed that “persecution of Christians is stronger than it was in the first centuries of the Church, and there are more Christian martyrs than in that time.”

Coptic Christians in Egypt are under siege. The Nigerian terrorist group known as Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of school girls in an effort to close Christian schools. Christian families in Pakistan have recently been freed from two decades of slavery in a Muslim-run brick kiln. Meanwhile, Christians in areas of Iraq overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syrian fighters are in fear for their lives. And, China continues to harass and suppress Christians.

Last January, a Pew Report on Religious Hostility showed that Christians continue to be the world’s most oppressed religious group with persecution against them reported in 110 countries.

“Religious freedom,” the Holy Father emphasized, “is not simply freedom of thought or private worship. It is the freedom to live according to ethical principles, both privately and publicly.”

“Reason,” Pope Francis said, “recognizes that religious freedom is a fundamental right of man, reflecting his highest dignity, that of seeking the truth and adhering to it, and recognizing it as an indispensable condition for realizing all his potential.”
We must never take our religious freedom for granted, but be constantly vigilant lest it be taken from us bit by bit.

Image credit:
A Coptic Orthodox bishop surveys a damaged church in late August in Minya, Egypt.(CNS photo/Louaf i Larbi, Reuters) (Dec. 9, 2013)

 

 

How our religious liberty is being eroded

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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
U.S. Constitution, First Amendment

The United States Constitution’s First Amendment gives two guarantees to religion. There can be no law establishing a state religion and there can be no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Much has been said and written concerning the “wall of separation between church and state.” A term used by Thomas Jefferson but not found in the Constitution. [Read more…]

Erosion of Religious Freedom

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Religious freedom is more than the freedom to worship. Religious freedom is the right to hold and publicly express religious values and practice those values freely especially in our own institutions.

The fundamental concept that religion is a beneficial and valuable institution in our society is eroding. From being salutary, religion is seen as a good organization among many, then something entirely private and finally as exerting a negative impact on society.

Dr. Karl Menninger, in his book Whatever Happened to Sin? suggested that it had been legislated and adjudicated away. One could say that the same fate is overtaking religious freedom.

Catholics and others face laws and government regulations that force them to choose between violating their conscience and shutting down. Catholic agencies in other states have had to stop offering adoption services when faced with regulations forcing them to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

Catholic institutions are gradually being pressured to provide contraceptives and abortions in medical plans and provide spousal benefits to gay couples. The freedom to hire only Catholics for certain positions in our schools and agencies is being challenged.

Recently, at a gathering of priests in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl warned: “We take for granted our religious freedom, but today it is under substantive while subtle challenge…We are in the midst of a sea change. We are being told that religion has no place in the marketplace, in the public forum.”

We must be vigilant. There are those who would exclude Christians and all believers from the public marketplace of ideas and restrict religious expression to inside a church building or on church owned property.