Now you’re going too far

After the Obama administration bent over backwards to accommodate the Catholic Church’s complaint about having to provide health insurance to their employees that covers birth control, the Church threw it aside claiming it wasn’t good enough. Why? In part because it doesn’t allow any employer that wants to to impose his or her religious views on their employees.

From the Catholic Church’s statement:

[T]he bishops explained that the “HHS mandate creates still a third class, those with no conscience protection at all:individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with their faith and moral values.” This includes employers sponsoring and subsidizing the coverage, insurers writing it, and beneficiaries paying individual premiums for it. Friday’s action confirms that HHS has no intention to provide any exemption or accommodation at all to this “third class. “In obedience to our Judeo-Christian heritage, we have consistently taught our people to live their lives during the week to reflect the same beliefs that they proclaim on the Sabbath. We cannot now abandon them to be forced to violate their morally well-informed consciences.

This so-called “third class” are business owners who think that owning a business that enjoys all of the benefits of our modern American society should be free from some of the responsibilities that go along with those benefits. People like Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, for example, who says that contraception is “gravely immoral”.

Here’s the thing: we ALL pay taxes and have expenses for things we disagree with. I detest war but, every month, the U.S. government takes its share of my paycheck to fund our participation in war. I detest the Republicans that are destroying our state but every month, the State of Michigan takes its share of my paycheck to make sure they get their paycheck.

It’s no different for businesses. Part of our grand bargain is that you get to enjoy the benefits of society — an energy grid, a transportation system, safe drinking water, a place for your toilet to flush to, police protection, fire protection, and a whole host of other services our society provides and that create the vibrant economy that allows businesses the chance to flourish. In return, businesses have some responsibilities and some rules to follow. Yeah, it’s true you may not agree with all of them. Welcome to the real world the rest of us live in where we have to put up with some things we disagree with for the privilege of being part of this amazing country.

And let us not forget that this monolithic religious group doesn’t pay a dime in taxes.

The part that galls me most about the Catholic Church’s position is that they expect the government to help them enforce their ridiculous stance on contraceptives. It’s not enough for them that they teach their followers what to do and believe. They need to make sure that the federal government helps to reduce the chance that their followers will break their rules about birth control use by stopping them from helping to make it affordable.

They want all of the benefits and privileges without the responsibility that goes with it. How very “moral” of them.