This past Sunday something happened that should scare the pants off of everyone in America. When the Army Chaplains, in Catholic services, wanted to read a letter sent by the Archbishop in charge of all of the Catholic Chaplains for all branches of the military, the Army Brass told them that they would not be allowed to read the letter as it was, and that they would have to alter the letter in order to read any of it. This is in direct violation of a decision by the Supreme Court in 1997, finding that a similar situation that had occurred in the Army involving Chaplains, was Unconstitutional, and that the Officers could not, in any way, determine what the Chaplains spoke about in their services, involving any religion, not only Catholic, or Christian, but services of all faiths. This is the first time in the history of this country, that the Federal Government has reached into the very heart of our Constitution, and squeezed that heart.
A little background: The Affordable Care Act, most often called "ObamaCare", has a clause that includes all birth control services, including the "Morning After" abortion pill, at no cost to women, through the employers' insurance company.The Catholic Church had applied for "Conscience" exemptions for all of their facilities, but despite much lobbying, and discussions with the Legislative members, Planned Parenthood won, and the Administration refused to change the way this clause is interpreted. ObamaCare itself is very ambiguous about what type of facility or organization, may apply for the exemptions, and the determination is left up to administration regulators discretion on virtually ALL of the clauses in this backroom Act. For instance, the HHS Rule determines that no out-of-pocket expenses can occur for birth control simply because the Regulators believe that they should be free. If you would like a bigger example, the Obama Administration's legal defense of the mandate to buy health insurance, or pay a fee, is that by the mere fact that you are alive means that they can control every aspect of your healthcare. Just because you are breathing. This kind of compulsion is not controversial in Ms. Sebelius's ministry. Which might be the reason that her staff failed to notice that this clause violates the First Amendment's Freedom of Religion. Which brings us back to the Army's decision to alter the letter from the Catholic Archbishop to parishioners serving in the Army, allegedly fighting to protect that very freedom of religion, and that of free speech.The letter stated that all Catholic Ministries would refuse to obey this finding, which the Army decided was insubordinate. This must not be allowed to stand. What "ObamaCare does is to harden the rule that the Federal Government decides what healthcare means, and who is entitled to it at any stage of life.
If this rule, which not only covers churches, but religious universities, schools, homeless shelters, soup kitchens or other institutions that, through their religious affiliation, object to birth control. And now we have the direct assault on Freedom of Speech by the Army. This now has people of all faiths, and even no faith, crying out for a change. Perhaps HHS administrators thought that the public had become immune to edicts like this, as they have come down every few weeks, since ObamaCare passed, but they were wrong. As it has become clear that the government can issue an edict involving their form of religious worship, or attacking their deepest held beliefs, the outcry has grown louder and louder. Even Catholic liberals are seemingly surprised, although they were some of ObamaCare's greatest supporters, hoping that it would use the government's might to enforce equity in healthcare. The entire push of ObamaCare is to standardize benefits and how they must be provided and paid for. This Act must be repealed in it's entirety, or we will find more of our First Amendment rights tossed to the side, enabling the government to decide who even lives or dies!This involves everyone, and our freedom will depend on a new direction of the government, from the Presidency on down. We will not survive intact as a Country of Freedom if Obama is allowed to remain for another four years.
