I believe we are in a fight for the heart and soul of our country. Future Supreme Court decisions will determine the outcome of many of these battles and all of us are going to be affected. Much has been said recently about Justice Antonin Scalia and how his death will impact the future of the Supreme Court. Count me among those who will dearly miss his reason, wit and adherence to the original meaning of the Constitution.
Regardless of who replaces him, his absence will have both long-term and short-term consequences. Those short-term consequences include the outcomes of cases that the now-eight-member court is hearing this term, including a critical religious freedom case the court will hear on March 23 and which every American should understand.
Zubik v. Burwell is a case involving Little Sisters of the Poor, a 175-year-old order of Roman Catholic nuns who have committed their entire lives to caring for the elderly poor. The case pits the nuns against the Department of Health and Human Services and the Obamacare regulation that forces most employers to provide a gamut of cost-free services to their employees, including contraceptives.
The court will have to decide whether the U.S. government — which already exempted big corporations such as Exxon and Pepsi and our military forces from this regulation — can force this small order of nuns to provide services which violate their religious beliefs. If the Sisters do not comply with the regulation, the Obama administration is threatening them with over $70 million in IRS fines per year.
It would be hard to find more sympathetic plaintiffs. If nothing else, the fight case demonstrates the degree to which this president is committed to even the most egregious and indefensible policies of Obamacare.
So why should I — or any American — care about the fate of the Little Sisters? I’m not Catholic, and I don’t share the Little Sisters’ precise objection to contraceptives. But that’s not the point. So much more is at stake. Will we respect the freedom of those who believe differently from us, or will we use the strong arm of government — and crushing IRS fines — to destroy those who dissent? The Little Sisters’ struggle is the same struggle we have seen played out, again and again, since our founding.
America was founded by religious dissenters, people who left their homes to escape government interference with their religious beliefs. The religious diversity of the English colonists changed American history for the better. In a nation populated by religious dissenters, religious dissent nurtured political dissent, giving rise to the American ideal of democracy, and eventually the American revolution.
We are standing before another tipping point today. Our nation has grown more religiously diverse, and our commitment to religious freedom is being tested. So the question is this: Will we protect those who believe differently, or will we clamp down on dissent? Our growing federal bureaucracy, intent upon regulating more and more of what used to be considered private, now wants to reach into our religious charities.
It does not matter that the Little Sisters of the Poor are a religious order, that they dedicate their lives to caring for the health of the elderly poor. In the government’s eyes, it matters only whether they comply with President Obama’s intrusive regulations. Now it is up to the nation’s highest court to decide whether the latest regulatory fads, or our long tradition of religious freedom, will carry the day.
I’m proud to stand with the Little Sisters of the Poor and our long tradition of religious freedom. After all, the fate of the Little Sisters is our own fate. If the government will force the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide contraception in spite of their religious objections, what else will it force the rest of us to do?
Chris Stewart represents Utah’s second congressional district. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
