hobby lobby

Kevin DeYoung posts some of the things that should concern us in regard to the government mandates on Hobby Lobby.

1. The brief argues that as a secular corporation Hobby Lobby does not receive the same protection to freely exercise religion—but what of the rights of the individuals who own and operate the company?
2. The brief argues that “any burden caused by the regulations is simply too attenuated to qualify as a substantial burden”—but can the government now determine which burdens on the conscience are “substantial” and how does it plan to make these determinations?
3. The brief argues that the health care regulation “serves two compelling governmental interests: improving the health of women and children, and equalizing the provision of recommended preventive care for women and men”—but on what grounds can the termination of fetal life be construed as “improving the health” of it?
4. The brief asserts that “The Free Exercise Clause does not prohibit a law that is neutral and generally applicable even if the law prescribes conduct that an individual’s religion proscribes”—but how is the contraceptive mandate “neutral” when the largest religious body in the country (the Catholic Church) opposes contraception outright and tens of millions of evangelical Christians believe the mandate violates their religious convictions relative to abortion?
5. The brief argues that “the Court should not permit the Greens to eliminate that legal separation to impose their personal religious beliefs on the corporate entity or its employees”—but by what logic is the failure to provide “preventive care” by a private company the imposition of religious belief and the mandating of it by the state it is not?