"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" with those words, the freedom of religion was established in America. Yet somehow many conservatives forget those words when they push legislation to impose their religious views upon those who do not share those views. This issue has become the latest obstacle to providing healthcare reform to a nation that needs it.
Conservative Democrat Bart Stupak, a congressman of Michigan, has decided that his religious beliefs are more important than the Constitution. He has decided that his personal religious belief, that abortion is wrong, is enough to prevent the health care reform process from progressing. Stupak believes that no federal money should pay for abortions. Now in the Senate bill, federal dollars are prohibited from being used for abortions. The Catholic Health Association, a pro-life organization that represents Catholic hospitals, stated as much. But that's not good enough.
Stupak believes that any person or organization that receives federal money should not be allowed to purchase health insurance if that particular health insurance plan covers abortion, even if they use their own money to buy that insurance. Stupak believes that somehow any money received would then let other money, not received from the government, to be used for abortion and therefore, in the twisted logic that he's using to justify his radical stance, the government would be subsidizing abortion. But abortion is just one issue. What if someone opposes end-of-life decisions for religious reasons? What if someone opposes in-vitro fertilization, organ transplants and blood transfusions for religious reasons? When will it end? If Stupak gets his way, it will not end.
People who receive food stamps, Medicare, Social Security and unemployment benefits would be prevented from buying insurance and receiving the health care they need because someone somewhere is morally against it. Organizations that receive bailouts, defense contracts and other federal dollars would not be able to provide health insurance to their employees for the same reasons mentioned before.
According to the constitution and several Supreme Court rulings, freedom of religion also guarantees the freedom from religion. That means you can believe what you want but you can't impose your beliefs on others. But in America you have social conservatives. These are the people who feel that their interpretation of the bible is the only correct interpretation and they have taken it upon themselves to tell all others how to live their own lives. Unfortunately, Congressman Stupak is just one of many in congress who represents this group of people.
In Washington, Stupak and like-minded conservatives, who have been elected to congress, congregate at a house funded by Christian nonprofits and ministries. In this house they receive Christian counseling on life and support other congressmen who use their faith to shape legislation. In other words they support those who will establish their religion as law. Now it's OK for any congressman to oppose health care reform but to oppose it for religious reasons should be unconstitutional.
