By Jolie Stuart-Davis, Young America's Foundation Sarah
T. Hermann Intern Scholar
This week, Wheaton College joined several other colleges and
universities to fight for religious freedom.
The ObamaCare contraception mandate, which is at the center of Wheaton's legal
challenge, would force the college, as well as other universities,
to provide their employees with insurance coverage that goes
against their religious beliefs.
According to the school's community covenant, the community
strives to "uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from
conception to death, as the unique image-bearers of God." Providing
employees with abortion-inducing drugs would be in direct conflict
with the school's covenant.
Mandating similar drugs and birth control be provided to
students on a school insurance policy lead to the conflict earlier
in the year with Catholic University of America and several other
Catholic schools. Universities are being forced to drop coverage to
avoid compromising their church teachings.
This law is an attack on religious freedom. If government can
force a school to go against its religious foundation, what else
can it do?
The first amendment guarantees freedom to practice any religion
and the HHS mandate is in direct conflict with the many Christian
faiths.
As a practicing Catholic, I am disappointed with this
administration's attack on the Constitution. But this attack is not
limited to the Catholic and Christian faiths. All religious groups
should fear for their freedom because with government out of
control, they could be next.
To date, Wheaton College is the 24th institution
to challenge the HHS mandate. The Supreme Court ruling in June
addressed the individual mandate, but not the conflict between the
HHS mandate and religious freedom. This gives the schools the
opportunity to challenge the HHS mandate separately. Let's hope the
Court doesn't rule it can "tax" away our religious freedom,
too.
Jolie Stuart-Davis is a Sarah T. Hermann Intern
Scholar at Young America's Foundation.
