I’d love to be able to start this piece off by ominously saying “And so it begins.” But that’s not the truth. The truth is that we’re so far past the beginning that all we can pray for is that the end is coming soon. (Not the END END. But an end to the government encroachment of religion.)

But nothing in America is as it was. Remember the conscience protections that we all heard about and promises from the White House that they wouldn’t interfere with people’s religious beliefs. Yeah, well not so much.

Here we have the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attempting to force a small Catholic college to include coverage for artificial contraception in it’s employee health plan.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that a small Catholic college must include coverage for artificial contraceptives in its employee health insurance plan, raising new concerns about the need for conscience protections and religious exemptions in America’s health care policies.

The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) today sent a letter to EEOC acting chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting that “it is ironic that the federal agency responsible for protecting against discrimination has so blatantly engaged in an inexcusable violation of religious liberty in its Belmont Abbey ruling.”

“No Catholic college or other institution should be required by government to violate the Catholic Church’s clear moral teachings,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “The apparently increasing insensitivity to religious beliefs should frighten all employers and employees. We urge religious leaders to stand in defense of Belmont Abbey College….”

Read the rest at the Cardinal Newman Society.

The reason for the change is that the EEOC says that because only women take oral contraceptives, that not having them in the plan is discriminatory against women. What?! Well, only women can have abortions so I’d guess that not having that in the plan would also be discriminatory against women.

But all of that is just a smokescreen anyway. They’re doing it because they want to stamp out religion in public life. And they’ll hang their hat on every jot and tittle of their laws and regulations to make it happen. And there won’t be any big legislation passed or a press conference. All the important action will be handled by bureaucrats and lawyers.

This is not the first shot fired but it’s an important one.
HT Culture War Notes