IWF’s Hadley Heath was on the mark yesterday in her statement in support of Hobby Lobby, a family-run business that due to Obama’s HHS mandate faces the option of violating their consciences or facing millions in fines so is seeking legal recourse. As Hadley put it:
Every family and every business in the United States should be free to live according to their deeply held religious convictions. This freedom is a part of our nation's heritage, and is widely recognized as an important right – even by people and groups who are not religious.
The HHS mandate goes too far, asking all of society to agree on very personal questions about morality, life, and conception. These are important debates, but the government has no business taking sides.
Other commentators have noted that this fight for religious freedom in the United States is particularly interesting in light of the Administration’s painful attempts to apologize for a private citizen offending Muslims with a movie that insults Islam.
The Administration condemns private Americans for exercising their rights to free speech by criticizing a religious leader, but is perfectly comfortable railroading peaceful Americans into violating deeply held religious convictions merely because they have had the audacity to start a business and employ people. What does this say about our leaders and their priorities and principles?