Rhetoric Race and Religion
In the next few weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will rule on two cases taken up this term: Hobby Lobby vs. Sibelius and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. vs. Sibelius. Both claim to be about the freedom to practice one’s own religion without interference by the government, but both are actually about whether or not broad exemptions to disregard antidiscrimination laws should be granted to people—and corporations—who oppose them on religious grounds.
Most embarrassing of all is the specter of people asking in the name of religion for permission to discriminate. This flies in the face of what every world religion claims in their own version of the Golden Rule: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Such a “golden rule” is the great common teaching among all religions, an understanding shared with non-religious people, atheists, humanists and most civilized societies. Why would some religious people want an exemption from following a core teaching of their religion?
Ostensibly, the devoutly religious owners of the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores (no one is disputing the Greens’ sincerity or devotion) do not want to fund the contraception coverage offered in the Affordable Care Act because they consider certain types of birth control to be abortificients. This is in the face of the medical community’s clear determination that this is not the case. But when your mind is already made up, facts seem not to matter.
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