You Are Obviously Confused.

Ever since the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) came into being, there have been a lot of objections to the law.  Some have a modicum of merit while others are just outright absurdly idiotic.  The worst of them are the so-called religious objections to the law which revolve around women’s healthcare.  These objections show a truly monumental ignorance of what religious freedom really means.  Let’s clear up that confusion right now.

The federal government has filed to have a judge dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and other institutions according to a US News report.  According to the article:

The groups argued in a lawsuit filed in October that their religious beliefs prohibit them from providing the required coverage for certain services provided for in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

This is where the Catholics, religious groups and businesses owned by people who have religious objections to birth control are confused.  Nothing about this requirement restricts their religious freedom.  To the contrary, no one is making these people take birth control against their objections or violating their beliefs in any way.  The law simply says that employer provided healthcare has to provide an employee the option of getting birth control through their coverage.

So what’s the difference?  That’s simple, requiring an employer to provide birth control coverage to all employees who want it means that the employer cannot force their religious beliefs on their employees – that is the essence of religious freedom – choice!  That is what the religious are apparently so confuse about, the meaning of religious freedom.

You see what this really comes down to is the fact that the religious will try and take every opportunity to force their religious beliefs on everyone else that they can.  This is just another case where christians are crying “you are denying me religious freedom” and are obviously ignorant of the meaning of the word.  What they are saying is that by taking a job, employees are essentially subjugating themselves to the religious beliefs of the employer.  That is the antithesis of religious freedom and my guess is that these fucking assholes know it.  They are just hoping that the courts will buy their argument and allow them to force their antiquated ignorance regarding women’s reproductive rights onto employees and get yet another accommodation in our society that they don’t deserve.

Let’s look at one other thing that should trouble anyone who really cares about religious freedom and separation of church and state.  According to the same article, the feds are arguing:

..the groups haven't shown any actual or imminent harm. They also argue that proposed amendments would accommodate religious groups' objections to covering contraceptive services.

Did you get the last part?  There are already proposed amendments to the law that would accommodate this religious bullshit and allow employers to go ahead and restrict an employees' availability to contraception and other coverage due to the employers’ religious objections.  Essentially the government is looking to give the employer the right to force their religious beliefs on the employee.  Yeah, I know the employee can go ahead and buy birth control with their own money, but that negates the idea of having health coverage in the first place.  Your health insurance is supposed to cover the things that you need, including prescriptions, making them more affordable.  And this also begs the question of where will this bullshit end?  What if you work for a christian scientist?  Will they be allowed to refuse coverage for necessary prescriptions like antibiotics or even regular medical care because their religion says that you should pray for the ill rather than going to a doctor?  If you work for a Jehovah’s Witness will they be able to deny coverage for blood transfusions because their ignorant belief system says that is a violation of their sacred beliefs.  Seriously, this is not a slippery slope argument; the truth is once the feds set a precedent that allows denial of coverage due to religious objections by the employer, where will it truly end?

What this all comes down to is the fact that religious assholes are looking to deny their employees their religious freedom and force their beliefs into their healthcare choices.  That is beyond fucked up.  An employer telling my spouse that she can’t get coverage for birth control because their religion is against it, or any other type of coverage that they object to, is not religious freedom, it is religious oppression.  That is not what people seek employment for.  No one signs a contract that says they will cast aside their beliefs and accept the religious ignorance of their employer in exchange for a paycheck.  If the employer provided a contract like that, the feds would be all over them for violating the law.  But make this an issue of religious freedom and health care and the feds and courts are going to take this seriously, even though we are essentially talking about the same thing?  What a fucking joke.

Keep your fucking religion out of our bedrooms, healthcare and everywhere else.  What other people choose to do, regardless of whether or not it agrees with your ignorant religious beliefs, has nothing to do with your religious freedom.  You are free to refuse medical coverage and pray yourself to death.  You are free to refuse birth control and have as many kids as you want.  You are free to refuse blood transfusions and die because you are a fucking moron.  That is religious freedom.  What you are not free to do is force your stupidity on others claiming that doing so is also part of your religious freedom and it’s time you ignorant religious goons get that through your fucking heads.