The proverbial wall between state and religion had already been built and continues to become more vehemently fortified by the day. While misquoting from the Constitution, men and women alike defend this wall as if it were Check Point Charlie during the Cold War.
However, these same men and woman are no longer content with simply just defending this monstrosity of a wall. They are now climbing over it and encroaching on our religious freedoms while ignoring the actual words inscribed in our Constitution as set forth in the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
An excellent example of this unconstitutional religious encroachment is the state’s harassment of The Little Sisters of the Poor. The group comprises nuns who have taken a vow of poverty, obedience, and chastity that lovingly care for the elderly poor. The Lowers Circuit Courts with the backing of the Affordable Care Act, also known infamously as Obamacare, have mandated the nuns to disavow their faith and comply with the secular law of the land. As a result the nuns have taken to the courts to defend their First Amendment rights. Instead of meeting with the elderly poor, they are meeting with lawyers. Instead of spending time in poor house they are spending time in the court of law.
The problem stems from Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate which requires the nuns to offer all participants in their insurance plan contraception, abortion drugs and female sterilization procedures. Under the law as set forth by Obamacare, the sister’s insurance plan does not have to directly supply participants with these contraceptive methods, but must allow their insurer or an outside health plan to provide separate birth control coverage—thus making the nuns indirectly culpable in defying their religious faith.
As a result, The Little Sisters of the Poor have recently filed a second brief to the Supreme Court of the United States to petition them to hear their case on its First Amendment merits before the government can impose millions of dollars of fines if they don’t comply with it.
If the government would go far as to harass and financially bog down the Sisters of the Poor, what and who will be next. Will any religious organization or place of worship be able to survive? Will religion be relegated to the dark catacombs under building or in dark caves like where the first Christians use to congregate? Unfortunately, that is where the slippery slope is taking our country.
