Obama 'Cherishes' Religious Freedom — Except When He Doesn't

“Here in the United States, we cherish religious liberty. It was the basis for so much of what brought us together.”

President Obama said these words on Wednesday at the White House. With a straight face.

This, from the man who pushed through a huge, expensive, and unpopular “health care” reform scheme that raises insurance rates, narrows networks, and infringes on the religious freedom of Christians who oppose abortions and paying for them. This, from the man whose administration seeks to punish Christians who have the audacity to openly oppose the mainstreaming of perversion.

The president said these words about religious liberty in front of Pope Francis, knowing that Roman Catholic groups, including Little Sisters of the Poor, are presently in litigation over that very issue. These groups are seeking an exemption to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate to provide drugs to employees that might kill unborn babies.

I hope the Obama who is coercing the Little Sisters of the Poor is listening to the Obama waxing eloquent on religious liberty right now.

— Ryan T. Anderson (@RyanTAnd) September 23, 2015

“You remind us that people are only truly free when they can practice their faith freely.” the president said. “Here in the United States, we cherish religious liberty.”

If the nuns don’t comply with the government order to provide baby-killing drugs, they’ll have to pay a fine. The Becket Fund represents the nuns. Senior Counsel Mark Rienzi wrote:

The federal government doesn’t need the Little Sisters or any other ministry to help it distribute abortion-inducing drugs and other contraceptives. Yet it not only insists on forcing them to participate in the delivery, it argues that their beliefs against participating are wrong and that government officials and judges can tell the Little Sisters what Catholic theology really requires. That’s wrong, and it’s dangerous — especially when those same government officials have disrespectfully compared the Sisters’ beliefs to ‘fighting an invisible dragon’ that can be vanquished with the ‘stroke of the [Sisters’] own pen.’

Secular group March for Life recently won an exemption to the Obamcare contraceptive mandate. That a group dedicated to saving unborn lives faced providing drugs that might take those lives is one example of the president’s wrong-headed, intrusive, and liberty-violating agenda.