Federal Government Denies Bible Publisher Is a “Religious Employer”
Posted by John Jansen (October 3, 2012 at 3:05 pm)
It’s been said frequently — and quite rightly — that not even Jesus and His Apostles would qualify as being “religious enough” under the HHS Mandate’s so-called “religious exemption.”
The vast majority of faith-based organizations don’t qualify either, nor do Bible publishers.
The Washington Times reports:
The Obama administration is claiming that a dedicated Christian publisher of Bibles and ministry material is insufficiently religious to qualify for an exemption to the contraception mandate in the president’s health-care overhaul.
According to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in the District of Columbia by Tyndale House Publishers, the company has been refused a “religious employer” exemption because the Health and Human Services Department categorically maintains that any for-profit publisher is not a “religious employer.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Tyndale, called the rule an unconstitutional and arbitrary threat to religious freedom.
“Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “To say that a Bible publisher is not religious is patently absurd. Tyndale House is a prime example of how ridiculous and arbitrary the Obama administration’s mandate is. Americans today clearly agree with America’s founders: the federal government’s bureaucrats are not qualified to decide what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how that faith may be lived out.”
When the federal government artibrarily defines for all of us what constitutes authentic religious ministry, the First Amendment guaranteed right to religious freedom is without question under attack.
It’s no wonder, then, that the grassroots movement in opposition to the HHS Mandate continues to grow.
This is just the beginning of the push to redesign/reinterpret our constitution to fit the ultimate goal of the totalitarian socialists. The only people with freedom will be the politburo and the Hollywood super wealthy secularists. Watch out freedom and democracy. God Save Our Republic.
October 8th, 2012 at 11:54 am