Mr. Obama has vowed to sign the Employment Non-Discrimination Act into law, which would interfere with the right of religious employers to choose their employees.
In the Supreme Court case Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the Obama Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tried to force a Lutheran church to hire an employee the EEOC wanted, arguing that the church didn’t have the right to control whom it employed according to its religious beliefs.
The court ruled unanimously against the Obama administration that “the Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.”
These examples are included in a devastating new book by conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly and journalist George Neumayr. “No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom” explores the disturbing trend in the Obama administration of trying to transform the relationship between church and state.
As the authors write, “Through stealth and sophistry, [Mr. Obama] is gradually transforming America into a secularist and socialist dystopia along modern Western European lines.”
Neither of the authors is known for pulling punches. They expose the numerous ways Mr. Obama has enlisted religious supporters to help him justify his socialism. Mr. Obama exploits faith because, the authors write, “doctrinal Christianity is a disposable proposition for him, while political liberalism represents an organizing, not-to-be-doubted-or-changed truth for society.”
However, the administration has encountered a formidable adversary in the church. The Catholic bishops couldn’t be more united against the mandate, and Sister Keehan has backtracked on her previous support for the mandate “accommodation.”
She recently stated that it is “imperative” that the administration broaden its “narrow” mandate exemption to include not just churches but also Catholic hospitals, health care organizations and other church ministries.
Mr. Neumayr and Mrs. Schlafly raise the very real prospect of civil disobedience if Mr. Obama wins a second term and continues his assault on religious liberty. “If Obama isn’t bound by the Framers’ words,” they ask, “why are the people bound by his?”
The bishops have hinted at civil disobedience. Referencing Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, the bishops released a statement in June that declared, “Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may be justified. Every effort must be made to repeal them. When fundamental human goods, such as the right of conscience, are at stake, we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties.”
The authors ask: “Mr. Obama is on a collision course with the religious. Is he prepared in his second term to throw priests, pastors and rabbis into prison?”
The answer may be yes.
Mr. Obama’s actions suggest he believes democracy is somehow endangered whenever religious groups enter the public square.
He has it exactly backward.
Democracy is endangered whenever religious groups are forced to advance government objectives against their consciences.