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Monday, June 30, 2014

This Is Fun to Watch

I actually have little use for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I tend to agree with Charles Napier on religion trumping Western secular traditions. I worry what non-Western religious outrage might fall under its provisions even as I hope that the provisions for compelling state interest prevent that.

But the Hobby Lobby case outcome is really quite funny given the rather narrow scope of the ruling.

As if the administration didn't ram this mandate through absent specific statutory authority.

As if proper consideration of Obamacare wouldn't have allowed a legislative exception to RFRA if Democrats hadn't just rammed Obamacare through.

As if birth control in general rather than some specific abortion-like methods has been addressed in the ruling.

As if this isn't restricted to a very narrow category of companies.

As if women are denied birth control rather than those specific methods under Obamacare insurance policies provided by companies, if the companies don't want to provide them for religious reasons.

As if women can't legally purchase their own specific methods ruled out of bounds as a mandate for company policies.

As if, more generally, women can't pay for their own birth control rather than rely on the government.

As if women are too stupid to understand these details rather than reacting as if Republicans have just glued their thighs together. Yes, women, Democrats truly hope you are that stupid.

And the best part?

As if the Religious Freedom Restoration Act wasn't sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer, passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress, and signed by President Bill Clinton.

And the Left is losing its mind over the ruling.

Grant me this is funny.

UPDATE: It strikes me that I should define "secular" given that it is a loaded word these days. I meant the West broadly in a non-sectarian manner not excluding religions tradition. The second definition in my dictionary puts it well: "Not specifically pertaining to religion or to a religious body." Napier would not have excluded Western religious values, I trust.

UPDATE: This pretty much sums up my amazement at the outrage from the left:

The notion that denying a subsidy for a product is equivalent to banning that product is one of the odder tenets of contemporary liberalism.

In what world is a ruling that prevents the government from forcing a company to provide something free to employees a denial of the right of those employees to buy that perfectly legal product with their own money?