from Patheos
Religious Freedom and Healthcare
James F McGrath | November 2 | Patheos.comIn recent weeks I’ve regularly heard Catholic bloggers and commentators complain that the new healthcare legislation infringeson their religious liberty, since it will require them to pay for coverage which will allow their employees to get contraception and other things that are against Catholic teaching.
Something didn’t sit quite right with me. Today I realized what is wrong with this sort of claim – and as so often happens, the secret to spotting the problem was simply to insert some other religious group into the equation.
Should Christian Scientist employers have to pay for employees’ healthcare at all? Should Jehovah’s Witness employers have to provide insurance that covers blood transfusion?
The problem with the argument that some Catholics and even Evangelicals have made against the Affordable Care Act is that it is trying to make religious freedom regarding healthcare a matter for the employer to decide rather than the individual.