Obama’s trespass on religious liberty

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Updated: March 8, 2012 8:09AM

Conservative complaints of expansive, constitutionally suspect government over-reach under President Barack Obama often are dismissed by liberals as unwarranted. Now those warnings are being realized as the Obama administration trespasses on the fundamental American principle of religious freedom and tolerance by imposing its mandates on the Catholic Church.

At issue is the new federal rule that Catholic hospitals, universities and charities be required to provide employees with health insurance including coverage for contraception, sterilization services and the “morning after” birth control pill. All violate Catholic doctrine. And of course this rule would apply to other fundamentalist religious organizations that have extensions of their churches offering social services.

Let me note here that I’m pro-choice on abortion. And I’m not a Catholic, or very religious at all. But I definitely do subscribe to the U.S. Constitution, its philosophy of limited government and its protections for religious freedom.

The White House argues that its rule exempts churches. That is such a stunted concept of faith as to drain religion of its basic commitment to be intimately involved in the life of the community.

Hospitals, colleges and charities are an extension of the Catholic Church’s mission to serve humanity. It’s a testimony to the depth of that mission that Catholic outreach in education, health care and social work extends to non-believers, both in servicing the public and in hiring employees to provide those services.

Church teaching on contraception is a matter of conscience protected by the First Amendment’s clear directive that Congress pass no law “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. Obama is invoking the insurance mandate under the Affordable Care Act, proving false the claim that Obamacare wasn’t a takeover of health care.

Now it’s true that a majority of Catholic women may practice contraception despite church doctrine. That’s not the issue. The Politico news site quoted aides as saying Obama acted out of his personal conviction and long-held belief that all health plans should provide birth control to women.

Think about that: A politician is substituting his conscience over the conscience of a religious organization, its ordained leaders and its readings of its sacred scriptures.

Talk about imperial presidency!

Abortion proponents applauding Obama should instead be wary of the precedent he is setting. On another day a pro-life president may control the levers of Obamacare, if Republicans fail to repeal it, and impose his views on what insurance can or cannot cover.

It was to constrain the power of personal diktat of the executive that the Founders established a Constitution of limited government and separation of powers.

This is not the first time Obama has set a potentially dangerous precedent. Last year he committed the country to war in Libya without consulting Congress, as required by the Constitution.

And it’s not the first time he has attempted to infringe on religious liberty. He had his administration join in a suit seeking to deny the Lutheran Church the authority to decide on the religious qualifications of its employees. It was such an egregious assault on the Constitution that it earned that rarest of rebukes — a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling against its position. Obama’s assault of the Catholic right of conscience deserves no less.