Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
‘Little Victims Of The State:’ Steam-Rolling Religious Liberty In America
‘Little Victims Of The State:’ Steam-Rolling Religious Liberty In America
May 15, 2026 5:26 AM

Mona Charen, writing for National Review Online, notes that the image-conscious Obama Administration has not been very careful about choosing it foes in the HHS mandate fight. Wanna pick a fight? How about some Catholic sisters?

The Little Sisters of the Poor is a Catholic charity providing care to the poorest elderly in a hospice-like setting. They serve 13,000 people in 31 countries, and operate 30 homes in the United States. Their faith calls them to treat every person, no matter how old, disabled, or poor, as if he or she were “Jesus himself.” There is no religious test for admission, only that you be poor and in need of care at the end of life. Think thousands of Mother Teresas.

Or maybe you’d prefer a family (Hobby Lobby’s Greens) who keeps Sundays open for their employees’ leisure, family time and worship:

They don’t believe in alcohol consumption, so their stores do not sell shotglasses or other drinking-related items. They play Christian music. They close on the Sabbath (losing millions per year). Employees are offered free access to chaplains, other counselors, and religiously oriented financial courses. Because the Greens abjure alcohol, they lose money annually by declining to permit their delivery trucks to “back haul” liquor. They provide health insurance that covers 16 different contraceptives. They draw a line, though, on providing four methods that they consider abortifacients…

Yes, these two groups (among many others) are fighting to keep their religious liberty in the United States. And it’s a big deal, according to Charen.

Our religious liberty is more than freedom of worship.

It’s also a worrying precedent. As the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs urged in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, if Hobby Lobby can be forced to provide abortifacients, then observant Jewish employers (if incorporated) could be forced to open on Saturdays, serve non-kosher food, or engage in other practices that violated the consciences of the owners.

Read The Little Victims of the State atNational Review Online.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Playing Politics with Unemployed Veterans
In mentary this week, I reflect on the unemployment rate of many newly separated military veterans of our Armed Forces. The grim jobs outlook affects our reservists and National Guard forces too. As You Were, a book I reviewed on the PowerBlog in late 2009, touched on this topic quite a bit. My first job out of college was working on veterans issues for former Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) I was able to meet and get to bat veterans from...
Video: Renewing the Call: Why Pastors and Business Leaders Need Each Other
At this past year’s Evangelical Theological Societymeeting, the Oikonomia Network convened a luncheon entitledRenewing the Call: Why Pastors and BusinessLeaders Need Each Other. Dr. Amy Sherman, senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute and author of recently publishedKingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship For the Common Goodpresented along with Dr. Scott Rae, professor at Talbot School of Theology and co-author of Business For the Common Good: A Christian Vision For the Marketplace. Click the video image below to watch the luncheon presentation. ...
Orthodox Bishops Assembly Silent on Moral Issues
Update, Feb. 2: the Assembly of Bishops issued a press release to “adamantly protest” the HHS mandate. On the Observer blog of the American Orthodox Institute, I look at the non-reaction of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America to the recent Obama administration mandate that forces most employers and insurers to provide contraceptives, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs free of charge. More specifics here. The Assembly of Bishops, charged with the mon witness” for Orthodox Christians...
The Perils of Presidential Prooftexting
Much has been made already about President ments yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast concerning the Christian faith’s teachings about social responsibility. During his time at the breakfast, the president opined that getting rid of tax breaks for wealthy Americans amounted to a Christian obligation: In a time when many folks are struggling and at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed e or young people with student loans or...
Samuel Gregg: The Vatican’s Calls for Global Financial Reform
In the journal Foreign Affairs, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg offers an analysis of the Vatican’s recent pronouncements on economic policy, most notably the document issued in October titled “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority” (also called “The Note”). The Church, Gregg said, “wanted to attract the attention of world leaders as they assembled to discuss ongoing turmoil in financial markets at the G-20 Summit in Cannes and to add its...
Obamacare vs the Catholic Bishops
I pleted a very short interview on Vatican Radio to discuss the current battle between the Obama administration and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It didn’t permit me to say more than that the Obama administration is making a political mistake, so I’d like to say a bit more about the serious consequences that will likely result and how we ended up with this Church-State conundrum in the first place. As Dr. Donald Condit has already explained, the...
Madison the Politician
James Madison has rightfully been forever identified as father of the U.S. Constitution, author of the Bill of Rights and coauthor of the Federalist Papers. In his new biography of America’s fourth president, Richard Brookhiser introduces us to Madison the politician. In many ways, Madison is the father of modern American politics, with all its partisanship, wheeling and dealing, vote getting, partisan media, and popular opinion polling. Brookhiser helps us to see the early framers as they were, brilliant men,...
Next Steps Conference – Business As Mission
I am attending the Next Steps conference hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University and organized by IWU Students for BAM. This is their first annual conference. Acton Institute is sponsoring this conference as a part of our evangelical network building work. As I have opportunity, I will post blogs including highlights of the plenary and workshop sessions. Last night, Bill Moore, owner and CEO of PacMoore Products spoke on principles of integrating business as mission in pany. Bill started his lecture...
The Dutch Resistance: Diet Eman at Aquinas College
At last summer’s Acton University conference, one of the evening key note lectures included Diet Eman, a Grand Rapids resident and one of the leaders of the World War II Dutch resistance. As a 20-year-old bank teller in the Netherlands in 1940, Diet dove into underground activities, doing anything she could to protect Jews from the deadly Nazi advance.She, along with a small minority of ordinary Dutch citizens, bravely put their lives on the line to preserve human life and...
Video: Sirico on Presidential Prooftexting
Jordan Ballor has already mented on President Obama’s ments on taxation and Christian social responsibility. Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico now joins the fray, having been called upon by Fox News Channel to add his insight to the discussion. In case you missed yesterday’s appearance on “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” we’ve got it for you. ...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved