Supreme Court to Hear Religious Freedom Concerns on Hobby Lobby Case
- Amanda Casanova ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor
- Updated Jan 29, 2014
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The US Supreme Court will hear arguments this spring for three briefs filed by American civil activist groups.
The American Civil Rights Union, the Thomas More Society and the American Centre for Law and Justice all field briefs this week on behalf of Hobby Lobby, asking that the Supreme Court strike down Obamacare laws that force employers to pay for health insurance that includes birth control.
Two of the briefs also support Conestoga Wood, a Pennsylvania-based wooden door and furniture business.
Hobby Lobby and Conestoga executives believe that some of the oral contraceptives murder children because it terminates a child in extremely early developmental stages. However, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, employers must provide certain levels of health insurance that includes birth control.
"In order to protect the religious freedom of Americans, the Supreme Court must declare this mandate unconstitutional," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.
"The [Obamacare] mandate requires a company or its owner to acquire a health insurance product even if it violates their religious beliefs. Such a measure not only violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, but federal law as well."
Said Tom Brejcha, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society: "We hope that the Justices will honour and safeguard the fundamental religious liberties of American citizens to engage in the free exercise of their religious beliefs, not only in their houses of worship, but also in their day to day lives, in business as well as at home.”
Publication Date: January 29, 2014.