Church leaders celebrate administration’s action on religious liberty

The government has finally stopped trying to make religious employers violate their faith.

Over five years ago, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a mandate as a part of the Affordable Care Act that required all employers to pay for things like abortion drugs in their healthcare plans. Two Supreme Court cases later, and charitable organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor and schools like Notre Dame were still fighting for their religious rights in court. They and other religious groups faced billions of dollars in fines for refusing to comply.

Last Friday, all of that ended.

The new administration lived up to its campaign promise and created a sweeping religious exemption to the regulation. Countless Catholic and other Christian charities breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Until recently, religious liberty has been a bipartisan rallying point in this country. We have long understood that our rights come from God, and the government has no authority to take away those rights.

The HHS mandate made no sense for America. We cherish religious liberty here, and we value our ability to live together peacefully despite our differences. In trying to force nuns like the Little Sisters, who provide dignified end of life care for the destitute, to provide things like abortion pills was not just unconstitutional, it was un-American.

As Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote this week:

“[It] is easy to forget what a shock that mandate was when it was first instituted. It represented a major departure from the consistent practice of the federal government to respect the conscience rights of everyone with religious or moral objections to controversial medical interventions.” 

The Catholic Church felt the sting of the mandate in a particular way. As the nation’s largest non-governmental provider of healthcare, education, and charitable services to the poor, the mandate impacted dozens of Church institution.

Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum for all executive departments and agencies on the subject of “Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty”.  Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has offered the following statement in response.

“The Attorney General’s guidance helpfully reaffirms that the law protects the freedom of faith-based organizations to conduct their operations in accordance with their religious mission.  The guidance also reaffirms that the federal government should never exclude religious organizations from competing on an equal footing for government grants or contracts, and religious entities should never be forced to change their religious character in order to participate in such programs.  We appreciate the Attorney General’s clarification of these matters, which will protect faith-based organizations’ freedom to serve all those in need, including the homeless, immigrants, refugees, and students attending religious schools.”