by Paul Rondeau
President Obama, with the proud help of his friends at Planned Parenthood, wrote Obamacare. Together, they make you an offer you can’t refuse—-paying almost $965 million, according to estimates by the Alliance Defending Freedom, for “preventive services” like abortion.
Don’t want that “preventive” service? I’ll put it this way: Imagine you’re in Chicago, and a guy who knows a few guys walks into your family business. He offers “preventive services” you don’t want. You say, “No, thanks.” He tells you, “You got two choices: You can either pay or you can pay.” It’s a persuasive argument.
Now imagine you’re a Christian shop owner. You find out these so-called preventive services mean abortion-inducing drugs and sterilizations. You say, “Hey, wait a second. I have religious freedom, don’t I?”
Nope. In case you haven’t heard, the Abortion Syndicate put out a hit on the First Amendment. Religious freedom got whacked on August 1, 2012, the day the Health and Human Services mandate went into effect.
Everyone—-that includes you and your business—-will pay. There is no serious conscience exemption. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, put it this way: “Even Mother Teresa wouldn’t qualify” for a religious exemption. The Catholic University of America doesn’t qualify. Notre Dame doesn’t qualify. Catholic Charities cannot qualify unless it stops serving non-Catholics.
The Department of Justice recently argued in court against a family business, that its owners cannot operate according to the dictates of their conscience, because that would mean they “impose their personal religious beliefs on the corporate entity or its employees.”
Don’t want to pay for abortion? OK, you will pay a percentage of your personal income as a tax penalty. Or, as a business, you will pay up to a $100 per month tax penalty per employee.
We have come a long way from severed horse heads in beds, envelopes stuffed with twenties and messages via dead fish. Now, “Don” Obama of the Abortion Syndicate uses billions of our own tax dollars and the full force of the government to tell business owners that they can have their faith or their livelihood, but not both.
Paul’s commentary was originally published on August 4, 2012 in The Washington Examiner
http://washingtonexaminer.com/religious-freedom-gets-whacked/article/2503944