Value and defend religious liberty

Richard A. Sokerka

The fight for religious liberty took a positive turn last week in two unrelated cases.

On Sept. 17, a federal court ruled that the Obama administration can not impose massive IRS fines on religious institutions for following their faith. The ruling increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will review the HHS mandate and decide whether to take up cases involving the Little Sisters of the Poor and several other religious organizations.

The court’s opinion stated, “When the government imposes a direct monetary penalty to coerce conduct that violates religious belief, there has never been a question that the government ‘imposes a substantial burden on the exercise of religion.’”

As Lori Windham, senior counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Little Sisters and other religious groups, pointed out, “The Obama administration has many ways to achieve its health care goals without trampling over religious freedom. Today’s decision correctly protects the rights of religious ministries serving the most vulnerable in our society.”

And in Chicago last week, the St. Thomas More Society represented Maria Goldstein, a Catholic pro-life advocate, who went to Office Depot to have 500 copies printed of her pro-life flyer to distribute in her parish. It contained information on fetal organ harvesting and included a prayer by Priests for Life, a pro-life organization, asking God to “bring an end to the killing of children in the womb” and an end to the sale of their body parts. The store refused the job, claiming that the flyer was “hate material,” “graphic,” and advocated “persecution of people who support abortion rights.”

The St. Thomas More Society elicited an apology from Office Depot Chairman Roland Smith who said, “We sincerely apologize to Ms. Goldstein for her experience and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs,” he said, inviting her to return to Office Depot to have her flyers printed.

The apology was accepted, but as Tom Olp, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, said,

“This situation is a reminder that religious liberty is increasingly under attack today, but it is a fundamental American right that every one of us should value and defend.”

Goldstein said that because of the Thomas More Society “I was able to stand up for my rights as a Christian, and I hope other people are empowered to stand up for their religious freedom, as well.”

Religious freedom is our first most cherished liberty. It is up to all of us to be ever watchful that it is never undermined.