SUPPORT HOBBY LOBBY – FOR PROFIT DOES NOT MEAN THE COMPANY IS “NON-RELIGIOUS”
Here's the Government’s current argument in Hobby Lobby
case: “There is no reason to think that Congress intended [the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”)] to grant for-profit corporations rights that previously had been
reserved to individuals and religious non-profit institutions. For-profit
corporations ‘are different from religious non-profits in that they use labor
to make a profit, rather than to perpetuate a religious values-based mission.’”
Ironically, one of the business involved here, Mardel, is a chain of Christian bookstores that hire at least some non-believers to arguably "perpetuate a religious-based mission." Where does that fall into the government's argument here?
So, when the IRS revokes a religious corporation’s tax exempt status for improper filings, or for some other “administrative” reason, thereby legally forcing them to become “for profit” corporations, do these inherently “religious” corporations then “SUDDENLY” become “secular” and lose their RFRA rights? (By “religious” I mean companies whose sole purpose for being is religious – i.e., religious schools, religious organizations, etc.)
This conclusion would be inevitable if we are to buy the government’s PRESENT argument in the Hobby Lobby case. Whether or not you pay taxes, as this very real example explicitly demonstrates, SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE DISTINGUISHING CRITERIA for determining whether a corporation can be deemed to be a “religious corporation,” or whether a corporation should be denied the right to uphold a “religious” ideology as part of its business model. You can’t have it both ways. Thousands of religious organizations have either been denied tax-exempt status, or have had their present status revoked by the IRS in the last year alone for “administrative” reasons. So now what? Are they no longer “religious?” Says who? The IRS?
A “religious” business (in terms of their corporate mandates), for profit or not, should not be forced to engage in activity that is against its collective conscience, albeit indirectly, because the government orders it to do so. It’s time for the church and all people of faith to speak as one. Unless people of faith rise up, we’re headed for some real dangerous ground really fast. We cannot afford to sit these cases out.
F.Y.I.: Of twenty (20) methods of contraception approved by the FDA, Hobby Lobby and Mardel Christian bookstores were willing to provide sixteen (16), no questions asked –They agreed to pick up the tab in full in order to provide these contraceptives to all of their employees, as required by the ACA. This, however, was not enough. They had to pay for two types of IUDs, Plan “B” and Ellla, all of which could terminate human life, whether they liked it or not.
THIS CASE HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT “CONTRACEPTION.” This case HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT ABORTION, and the right of a corporation not to allow one penny of its hard earned money to go toward extinguishing human life.
From Me2u,
Pastor Mario
Ironically, one of the business involved here, Mardel, is a chain of Christian bookstores that hire at least some non-believers to arguably "perpetuate a religious-based mission." Where does that fall into the government's argument here?
So, when the IRS revokes a religious corporation’s tax exempt status for improper filings, or for some other “administrative” reason, thereby legally forcing them to become “for profit” corporations, do these inherently “religious” corporations then “SUDDENLY” become “secular” and lose their RFRA rights? (By “religious” I mean companies whose sole purpose for being is religious – i.e., religious schools, religious organizations, etc.)
This conclusion would be inevitable if we are to buy the government’s PRESENT argument in the Hobby Lobby case. Whether or not you pay taxes, as this very real example explicitly demonstrates, SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE DISTINGUISHING CRITERIA for determining whether a corporation can be deemed to be a “religious corporation,” or whether a corporation should be denied the right to uphold a “religious” ideology as part of its business model. You can’t have it both ways. Thousands of religious organizations have either been denied tax-exempt status, or have had their present status revoked by the IRS in the last year alone for “administrative” reasons. So now what? Are they no longer “religious?” Says who? The IRS?
A “religious” business (in terms of their corporate mandates), for profit or not, should not be forced to engage in activity that is against its collective conscience, albeit indirectly, because the government orders it to do so. It’s time for the church and all people of faith to speak as one. Unless people of faith rise up, we’re headed for some real dangerous ground really fast. We cannot afford to sit these cases out.
F.Y.I.: Of twenty (20) methods of contraception approved by the FDA, Hobby Lobby and Mardel Christian bookstores were willing to provide sixteen (16), no questions asked –They agreed to pick up the tab in full in order to provide these contraceptives to all of their employees, as required by the ACA. This, however, was not enough. They had to pay for two types of IUDs, Plan “B” and Ellla, all of which could terminate human life, whether they liked it or not.
THIS CASE HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT “CONTRACEPTION.” This case HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT ABORTION, and the right of a corporation not to allow one penny of its hard earned money to go toward extinguishing human life.
From Me2u,
Pastor Mario
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