Former Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Democrat Jim Brown Explodes Free Birth Control Myth For Catholic Organizations ( HHS MANDATE )

Jim Brown who was a major player in Louisiana Democratic politics as we as being our past Commish of Insurance has a column up. See THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!

First he explodes the fiction that the Catholic Church will not be in the contraception business as to the supposed compromise.

...The White House has offered a birth control alternative that allows a religious employer to decline contraception options, but requires that the employer’s insurance company make these same options available directly to the employee. If any employee of such an institution desires the birth control option, the insurance company has to supply it free of charge to the employee. But no service is free. Somebody has to pay for it. If the insurance provider cannot charge additional cost to the religious based plan, the new charges will end up being paid by the other policyholders buying health insurance. Like you and me. There’s no free lunch.
To say that a religious institution is not supplying contraceptives to their employees under such a plan is nothing more than an accounting gimmick. If you’re the boss and you make arrangements for your employees to be covered by some outside source, you’re the one making the decision. Call the process what you will, but under this new plan, religious institutions are not really exempt from the new federal rule..

He then goes into matters I slightly disagree with.

..So should any institution be exempt from the birth control rules? It may be reasonable, as a guideline for any future legal challenge, to consider the purpose of the institution. The mission of a church is to teach religion. Therefore, any employee of a church would come to work knowing that the focus of such a religious entity is to teach religious doctrine. And part of that doctrine may be the prohibition of contraception.
But the primary purpose of a hospital is healthcare. In my hometown of Baton Rouge, we are fortunate to have a first rate catholic hospital called, The Lady of the Lake. It is an outreach commitment of the Franciscan Missionaries. The medical care is excellent. I’ve visited The Lady of the Lake Hospital numerous times, and never once have I gotten the impression that there is an effort to spread catholic doctrine. The mission of Lady of the Lake and other religious affiliated hospitals I have visited is to provide healthcare.....

But is it really that clear cut . See my post on this subject from this past weekend .So Catholic Hospitals Don't Teach Catholicism Huh

Brown then goes on to say the Religious Liberty can not and never has been a trump card over all Government regulation. Well who is arguing that?

When we consider these weightily matters of religious liberty , accommodation, and public policy we usually have a discussion first. There are town halls, House and Senate hearings, an discussion in the academy. Then there is a vote. Here we got the policy first and then the the purported discussion. The exact opposite of how this is suppose to work. The Church is literally having to make it's case with a gun to its head.

Unless you were in the Catholic and religious weeds most Americans had no idea this coming. In fact the Bishops were assured unofficially that the passage of the Heath Care bill would not bring these concerns.

This is part of the problem.