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Aielyn on 01 July 2014
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-CraZed- said:
Aielyn said:
-CraZed- said:
Again, the ruling does no such thing. It reaffirms, narrowly I might add, that people have a right to practice their religion freely and that government cannot force them to provide drugs that cause abortions (seriously look at the case, Hobby Lobby was challenging abortifacient drugs) with the medical insurance plans they offer to their employees. Just because you become a business owner or a corporate executive doesn't mean you lose your religious freedom.

People, back when there was conscription, who refused to go to war due to their religious beliefs didn't get to just go home and continue living their lives. They had to take dangerous jobs like firefighting, or allow their bodies to be used for medical trials, and things like that, instead.

"Religious belief" and conscientious objection isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. If a company that employs people refuses to follow requirements put on it by laws because it contradicts the owners' religious beliefs, those owners are completely within their rights to cease to hire people, to stop operating as a corporation. If you are required by law to do something as a corporation and your religious beliefs contradict that, then you can do that - but you don't get to keep operating as a corporation.

If your religious beliefs contradict your obligations as a business owner, don't be a business owner.

So now employment = conscription?

And since you can't have religious views and be a business owner then I guess all of us working folk would be conscripts in Satan's army then?

That's a joke and I'm sorry but so is your post.

You seem to have the logic backwards. I didn't say employment is like conscription, I said that conscientious objection isn't just a freebie way to avoid things you don't like. And you can have religious views and be a business owner - but if your religious views contradict your responsibilities as a business owner, then you don't get to just ignore your responsibilities. Your religious views don't supersede your societal responsibilities, and they don't supersede your business responsibilities.

It's exactly like how a devout muslim woman can't work as a hair model (like in shampoo commercials) and demand to work while not having to actually show her hair - if her religion contradicts the requirements of the job, she simply has to not do that job. It's exactly like how a doctor who is a Jehovah's Witness doesn't get to go "I'm not going to do blood transfusions, because it's against my religion" - if you don't want to do blood transfusions, don't be a doctor.

You can be a business owner and not pay for medical insurance that covers abortifacients... by not having employees. Or by having a very small business in which you can choose your employees as you see fit (we're talking very small businesses). If you want to apply your religious beliefs to a larger organisation, then be non-profit.