The Obama administration has ruled that free contraception, sterilization and some abortion-inducing drugs must be a part of every health plan in the nation. This sweeping mandate includes an unacceptably narrow “religious exception” that would not include Catholic charities, shelters, schools and colleges because they serve and employ people who are not Catholic. Our Church’s ministries will be forced by law (with major fines for non-compliance) to provide and pay for “services” which clearly violate Catholic teaching and conscience. The government has decided what is . . . and is not . . . the “religious” mission of our Church which is an unprecedented and dangerous interference in the internal affairs of all religious institutions.
This unwise and unjust mandate therefore should concern not only Catholics, but all Americans. This edict says mandating free contraception, sterilization and even some abortifacients is more important than the First Amendment, religious liberty and the consciences of Americans. It is a dangerous precedent that concerns many who do not share our teaching on contraception, but value religious ministries that serve the poor or believe that government does not have the power to decide what is religious and what is not.
The mandate tries to force us to do what we cannot do. We cannot simply say “never mind . . . we will abandon our consistent teaching on human life and conscience in order to comply with a mistaken mandate from HHS.” There are some things we cannot do and some things that are wrong for government to compel us to do against our teaching and moral principles.
The “religious exception” might cover a parish secretary, but not our charities and shelters, hospitals and schools. It is so narrow that Jesus would not qualify, since He healed people who were not members of his religious community. In fact, our faith calls us to serve “the least of these” because of their need, not their creed. We serve the hungry, the homeless, the sick and poor children not because they are Catholic, but because we are. The government’s effort to narrowly define “religious” threatens all people of faith. It also undermines the common good because it undermines our capacity to join with others to serve those in need in Atlanta, across our nation and around the world.
I respect the president as the leader of our nation. I hope President Obama will recall his eloquent words about the value of religious ministries among the poor and his pledges of respect for conscience and reverse this unwise decision which violates not only our nation’s values, but his commitments to the American people. We all make mistakes and this was a serious error with terrible consequences for religious groups, the poor and vulnerable and for the nation . . . and, I would suggest, for the president and his administration.
It would show real leadership and wisdom to reverse his decision in light of the broad concerns that are being expressed across the nation about religious liberty and conscience. Many people of our faith, other faiths and no faith are urging the president to reverse, the Congress to repeal or the courts to stop this egregious violation of religious freedom. We do so not simply because it is anti-Catholic, but because it is un-American.
Wilton D. Gregory is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta.
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