Attack of the Catholic persecution complex

As their persecution complex swells to gargantuan size like an irradiated spider in a B movie, Catholic institutions took the Obama Administration to court this week. Why?

Because requiring all employers to provide health insurance that allows no-cost access to contraception is persecution of Catholics, of course.

The University of Notre Dame, the Archdiocese of New York and 41 other Roman Catholic institutions sued the Obama administration in federal court Monday, the latest push against a requirement in the health-care-overhaul law that employers cover contraception in workers’ health plans.

The lawsuits were brought in a dozen different jurisdictions in the U.S., and plaintiffs included the Catholic University of America and archdioceses serving Dallas, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.

"The government…cannot justify its decision to force Notre Dame to provide, pay for, and/or facilitate access to these services in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs," Notre Dame’s lawsuit argues. "If the government can force religious institutions to violate their beliefs in such a manner, there is no apparent limit to the government’s power."

Bear in mind that since 2000, all employers offering health insurance have had to provide within that coverage access to birth control and sterilization services. The only difference now is that a co-payment can no longer be charged.

What’s the difference? Instead of setting up an insurance plan which required employees to pay full retail price for reproductive care, which has the same effect as not having such coverage at all in the insurance plan, this move will make the coverage freely available.

That means that employees of Catholic-affiliated institutions who are non-Catholics, or who are among the large percentage of Catholics who choose to use birth control, will be able to get it without paying full retail price!

Mind you, the employer won’t have to pay for it; it’s just required that the insurer provide it.

Next, we look forward to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s religious discrimination suit against the Department of Health and Human Services. Seems HHS requires health insurers to provide free nutritional counseling. That counseling recommends low-glycemic (that is, low-pasta) diets to reduce obesity and diabetes.