Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
The right of freedom of Religion has recently had a string of legislative victories that are well worth commenting upon.
The most recent of these comes to us courtesy of Texas. Just yesterday, a federal judge in the great state of Texas took the side of a Christian employer who had argued that the federal requirement, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act, covering HIV medication was a violation of their religious freedom.
This came in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that former Coach Joseph Kennedy had his own religious freedom violated when he was told that he couldn’t pray on the field after a football game.
It is now being reported that:
The group argues that covering those services “violates their religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” said federal district court Judge Reed O’Connor, who is presiding over the case.
The ruling by O’Connor, a Bush appointee, was met with immediate opposition from the liberal healthcare nonprofit Protect Our Care, which is raising concerns about it setting a precedent for other “guaranteed” services under the law.
The group says the ruling “invalidated all of the benefits covered under the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, including lifesaving colorectal and other cancer screenings, depression screenings, hypertension screenings, and access to PrEP.”
The group accused Judge O’Connor of threatening to “eliminate all of the guaranteed preventive services under the ACA.”
It is unclear whether O’Connor’s ruling affects only the plaintiffs,everyone in Texas or all Americans under the program.
It is also uncertain whether the Affordable Care Act requirements will immediately stop or be allowed to continue while litigation occurs. The judge requested additional briefs from both parties by Friday.
The Hill went on to report that:
The ruling was a victory for Christian businesses Braidwood Management and Kelley Orthodontics and a defeat for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The religious Texas employers had argued the ACA violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it forced them to pay for coverage that conflicts with their beliefs, including supporting the use of drugs and “sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.”
The U.S. has approved two PrEP pills, Truvada and Descovy, which are 99 percent effective at preventing the transmission of HIV, a virus that causes the disease AIDS.
The World Health Organization says HIV is still a “major” global public health emergency and has killed more than 40 million people.
O’Connor also ruled against a broad range of preventive services recommended by USPSTF, saying the task force’s system for deciding which services should be fully covered under the ACA is unconstitutional.
So, it is indeed another victory, for Christians to be sure, but more broadly, and in my view, more importantly, for the freedom to practice religion.
In the United States of America, one of, if not the most, crucial right we have is the right to freedom of religion in the case of the zealot and freedom from religion in the case of the secularist.
These rights really are sacrosanct and it should not be forgotten. Follow The Raging Patriot for more on this story as it develops.
