RFRA-Hobby Lobby

July 17, 2014

ThrowBack Thursday: Twenty one years ago, President Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In 1994, while I was working for Dr. Richard Land at the CLC (now ERLC), I was invited to the White House to meet with the President's staff to discuss the importance of giving broad protection to religious liberty. The President wrote a kind letter afterwards expressing his commitment to religious liberty and RFRA, and his kind concern for Jon Whitehead who was battling leukemia at the time. 

Americans should understand that the Supreme Court's decision in favor of Conestoga Wood and Hobby Lobby was based on this important statute, not on the First Amendment Religion Clause. The only law standing between these Christian families and the HHS abortion pill mandate was RFRA. The Government Order that would violate their religious conscience would have been enforced, but for RFRA. 

Yesterday, while we were sleeping, Senate Democrats tried to ramrod through a bill which would have gutted RFRA. S. 2578 is called the "Protect Women's Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014" The Cong Res Svc summary says - "Affirms requirements, notwithstanding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, that: (1) an employer that establishes or maintains a group health plan for its employees must provide coverage of a specific item or service for the employees or their dependents where the coverage is required under federal provisions or regulations pursuant to those provisions.... " 

I am sorry to see that one of my two senators voted for this bill, along with 55 other senators. https://tinyurl.com/mq5fk6c They fell 4 votes -- only 4 votes -- short of a cloture vote (cutting off debate.) Senator Harry Reid promises he will bring this bill back for another vote before the August recess. 

The bill was introduced 9 days after the Sup. Court decision, and it was voted on 7 days later. My, how quickly the Senate can move when it wants to. How impulsively some senators will react to a Supreme Court decision that they would give up their /our birthright of religious freedom in exchange for a mess of pottage made from abortion pills. Thankfully, such short term thinking was thwarted -- for now. Write your representatives and tell them to stop tinkering with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and our religious liberty. You can use this link, if you wish. https://tinyurl.com/qg4aft6.