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WASHINGTON – President Obama gave a lovely speech at the recent National Prayer Breakfast — and one is reluctant to criticize.
But pry my jaw from the floorboards.
Without a hint of irony, the president lamented eroding protections of religious liberty around the world.
Just not, apparently, in America.
Nary a mention of the legal challenges to religious liberty now in play between this administration and the Catholic Church and other religious groups, as well as private businesses that contest the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare.
Missing was any mention of Hobby Lobby or the Little Sisters of the Poor — whose cases have recently reached the U.S. Supreme Court and that reveal the Obama administration’s willingness to challenge rather than protect religious liberty in this country.
As it turns out, many in the audience were reaching for their own jaws when Obama got to the liberty section of his speech, according to several people who attended the breakfast. Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, summed up the general reaction of many with whom he spoke: “Stunned.”
“Several people said afterward how encouraged they would have been by President Obama’s remarks if only his acts reflected what he said,” Cromartie told me.
Perhaps Obama’s advisers counted on the good will of the audience. Or they reckoned that juxtaposed against atrocities committed elsewhere, our debates about birth control might be viewed as not much ado.
It is understandable that many Americans might not see these legal challenges as especially pressing, especially if they’d just like insurance coverage for contraception — a position with which I personally have no disagreement. But these cases are more than a debate about birth control. They have far-reaching implications and, as Obama pointed out, there is a strong correlation between religious freedom and a nation’s stability.
“History shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people — including the freedom of religion — are ultimately more just and more peaceful and more successful.”
Since this is so, one wonders why the Obama administration is so dedicated to forcing people to act against their own conscience. By requiring through the contraceptive mandate that some religious-affiliated groups provide health plans covering what they consider abortifacient contraceptives, isn’t the Obama administration effectively imposing its own religious rules? Thou shalt not protect unborn life.
Meanwhile, another case settled in 2012 reveals much about this administration’s willingness to challenge religious freedom. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the question boiled down to whether the government can decide whom a church hires as minister. Since when?
Not yet. In a rare move, all nine justices ruled against the government stating that the federal government does not, alas, get to direct who preaches the gospel. But it wanted to.
Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
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