Tuesday, March 25, 2014 is the day the much-watched case of Hobby Lobby is heard before by a three-to-one margin, in favor of Hobby Lobby.
the U.S. Supreme Court to defend against the ObamaCare morning-after birth control provision. Let me set the stage for you, as it's been occupied with a real cast of characters for quite a while now. To all my Christian friends, if you are not aware that the National Council of Churches joined with MoveOn.org (yes -- MoveOn.org) to oppose Hobby Lobby's resistance to providing, not birth control or sterilization, but abortifacients (Plan B in US), you know it now. And they called for a boycott of the Oklahoma-based company. Eighty-four Friends of the Court briefs have been filed -- an historic number --

Hobby Lobby - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Faithful America, a creation of the National Council of Churches, has joined forces with a far left feminist organization called UltraViolet (led by former MoveOn.org activist Nita Chaudhary) to pressure Christian-led business Hobby Lobby to give up its quest to maintain its ethical standards. Read the details here.
Nita Chaudhary and MoveOn.org were behind the General David Betray Us ad. Remember that? Proud feminist that she is, you won't find her railing against the plight of Muslim women around the world or the vile lyrics and uber-sexual stage machinations of those who are adored by young girls and boys everywhere.
Now that I've had my National Council of Churches rant (haven't had one for awhile -- but be assured, they always deserve it), I'll move on to another rant.
After the Tenth Circuit Court decision ruled that the Green’s do not have the right to their well-known, long-held and mainstream religious belief that every human life is precious and should be protected, Hobby Lobby appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency injunction, which Catholic U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared was not an emergency at all, and refused to grant temporary relief for the Company during the Appeals process.
“Yet, as Laura Ingraham pointed out, in a previous case Sotomayor ruled for a Muslim inmate who was denied Ramadan meals. In Ford v. McGinnis, 352 F.3d 582 (2d Cir. 2003), Sotomayor wrote an opinion that reversed a district court decision holding that a Muslim inmate’s First Amendment rights had not been violated because the holiday feast that he was denied was not a mandatory one in Islam. Sotomayor held that the inmate’s First Amendment’s rights were violated because the feast was subjectively important to the inmate’s practice of Islam.“
Hobby Lobby is privately-owned by the David Green family. Joining the case is Conestoga Wood Specialties, owned by Mennonite Norman Hahn in East Earl, Pennsylvania. It employs 1200 with seven factories in five states. Hobby Lobby employs 13,000 in 602 stores in 47 states.
Attorneys general for 18 states including Georgia, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas and Florida have sided with the religiously affiliated companies. California and Washington have joined with 13 other states in supporting the mandate.
“Corporations, of course, cannot suffer. They are not sentient. They have no soul,” said Caroline Mala Corbin, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law. “Religious protection only makes sense when it applies to actual people.”
Others disagree.
“Followers of kosher rules run catering companies,” attorneys for Conestoga Wood Specialties wrote. “Families that observe the Sabbath operate fast food restaurants and craft stores. And those who value sacred texts publish and distribute books. Whatever the legal status of their organizations, owners and operators do not check their beliefs at the door each Monday morning.”
Ironically, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that conservatives might use to strike down the contraception mandate was a congressional reaction to a 1990 opinion by strictly conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia’s 1990 opinion reasoned that religious objectors are not exempt from a “neutral law of general applicability.”
Adding even more judicial spice, the conservative-dominated court that will decide this question is the same court that likened corporations to people in erasing limits on corporate campaign spending.
“Political speech does not lose First Amendment protection simply because its source is a corporation,” Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing vote, wrote in the court’s 2010 Citizens United case.
The potential consequences, moreover, reach beyond the 80-plus federal lawsuits that have been filed by colleges, charities and others challenging the contraception mandate. Source: Bradenton Herald
Owner David Green says his business is not a secular business. The company faces an estimated $1.3 million-a-day penalty if not in compliance. Visit the Becket Fund for updates on SCOTUS action. A decision is expected by June 2014.
Visit the National Council of Churches website from time-to-time and please read this about the NCC position on Israel and social justice, in general. Let's send prayers winging that the NCC's effort to thwart David Green's and Norman Hahn's religious freedom are unsuccessful.
Thanks to Southern Peony!
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Maggie | March 23, 2014 at 6:00 am | URL: http://wp.me/p1cuXL-eqU