facebook
rss
twitter
  • About
    • Contact
    • Elementary & Secondary Education Department
    • Social Concerns Department
  • Legislative Review
  • Issues
    • Catholic Education
    • Faith and Politics
    • Health Care
    • Life and Dignity
    • Marriage and Family
    • Religious Liberty
    • Social Justice
  • Bishops’ Statements
    • En Español
  • Resources
    • Bulletin Inserts
    • Church Documents
    • PA Catholic Statistics
    • Related Sites
    • Send A Letter to The Editor
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feeds
    • Via E-mail
  • Contact
  • Podcast

U.S. Supreme Court Makes Favorable Religious Liberty Decision

June 30, 2014
by Hill
Conestoga Wood, conscience protection, HHS Mandate, hobby lobby, Religious Liberty, supreme court
Comments are off

Pennsylvania Catholic Conference Encouraged by Favorable U.S. Supreme Court Religious Liberty Decision

USsupremecourt“[R]eason 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. 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, consequent to the truth one has found.”(Pope Francis, June 20, 2014)

In this spirit, religious liberty scored a victory today in the U.S. Supreme Court. In its decision in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Products cases, the Court properly concluded that religious conscience of closely held businesses is to be protected from government coercion. Further, the Court determined that the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate is improper as it forces a closely held company to pay for coverage of products and services that violate the owners’ firmly held religious beliefs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under authority provided in the Affordable Care Act, mandated coverage of sterilization, contraception and abortion-causing drugs in most employer health insurance plans.

Religious ministries of service – such as charities, schools, health care facilities and institutions of higher education – are given, at best, second-class status under the law in the form of a still-murky “accommodation.” Many religious entities, including Catholic dioceses, are challenging this mandate in federal courts across the country.

The Catholic Bishops of Pennsylvania express the hope that, in light of this ruling, the Obama Administration will do the right thing and withdraw the mandate as it has been applied to religious ministries. That step will bring to an end litigation which religious ministries were forced to undertake to protect their religious conscience and to assure that statutory and constitutional protections would not be trampled.

About the Author
Social Share
  • google-share

News From Around PA

  • Candelmas at Saint Anastasia Church
  • USCCB: President of U.S. Bishops Conference on Bishops’ United Position Against the Evil of Abortion
  • After Biden comments, U.S. bishops say they have ‘united position’ on abortion
  • Victims of violence in Congo share their grief with pope
  • School Counselor, Long Term sub until June 2023 Oakland Catholic High School
  • Remembrance of the Living
Click To Read More

Post Archives

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

Recent Posts

PCC Capitol Wrap for Thursday, 2-1-23
Feb 02, 2023
PCC Capitol Wrap for Wednesday, 2-1-23
Feb 01, 2023
PCC Capitol Wrap for Tuesday, 1-31-23
Jan 31, 2023

All Issues

  • Catholic Education
  • Faith and Politics
  • Health Care
  • Life and Dignity
  • Marriage and Family
  • Religious Liberty
  • Social Justice

banner

Sign up to join the Catholic Advocacy Network today!

CClogo© 2021 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Bookmark and Share Site by Halibut Blue® | Login