Post #7: Discriminating freely in the light of God

The concept of "religious freedom" has been invoked by US lawmakers in ever more spurious fashion.  It came to national attention early last year in the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case,when the US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, sided with corporations seeking exemption from providing birth control coverage for their employees due to "conscientious objection" to birth control on religious grounds.

CNN: Supreme Court rules against Obama in contraception case

Bullshit!

It's not ideal that employers are tangled up in providing healthcare for their workers - essentially, for-profit companies pay other for-profit companies to pay doctors to provide care for everyday people.  It's a convoluted system ripe with corruption, profit zeal, and ethical paradoxes. 

But, it is what it is.  People depend on their jobs for health care, and the government has simply attempted to define what aspects of health coverage should be universally granted by insurers. 

If conservatives are so pro-individual, why not leave it up to individuals who do not agree with birth control, to simply not take birth control?  No one is being forced to actually abort babies or use contraception who is not electing to do so out of free will.  So the idea that anyone's "freedom" is being trounced upon is just infuriating.

Obviously, the Indiana "religious freedom" bill has brought these questions to the fore again, granting business owners the right to legally refuse service to people on "religious grounds".  The stink of moral backwardsness was enough to light up national attention, thankfully, but the legislative and judicial underpinning for this kind of thinking remains firmly entrenched.

It would be great to have a performance where the lead character is obsessed with "religious freedom" and makes all kinds of absurd demands of everyone around him on these grounds - I'm not paying my bills, I'm not doing my homework, I'm not waiting in line....  it's a slippery slope when you believe God has your back and turn off that nagging thing we call empathy!!!