I very much disagree with the religious views of The Little Sisters Of The Poor but this does not mean I wish for government to bully them into submission.
This is an opinion submission from a reader like you. We consider all submissions.
Those who follow my writing, or even read my Twitter bio to be honest, know that I am an atheist. I’ve been one all my life. I have no plans of changing my mind on that any time soon.
I’m not one of those casual agnostics/”nones” either. I own The God Delusion and have read it cover to cover twice and own five books by the late Christopher Hitchens, who I also consider an inspiration for my own writing. I also at one point pretended Sam Harris was smart, but we don’t talk about the dark ages.
I bring this up to make it clear that I very much disagree with religious views of the Little Sisters Of The Poor, and as such do not offer much support to this religious organization. However, this does not mean I wish for government to bully them into submission.
For those who do not know, recently the Catholic organization has been forced to defend itself a third time from the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act. Of course, contraception violates Catholic teachings and as such the Little Sisters of the Poor refused to do so twice over. Now, someone is suing them once again, and they’re back for a third time.
Mind you, in most states birth control costs $4 a month or $10 for a ninety day supply. In fact, it is the left-wing states that actually have the most expensive birth control, as they have put into place laws against “cut throat competition” to stop those evil companies from charging to little for a product.
One cannot help but notice the states with the largest amount of cut throat competition laws are also the states with the most liberal laws towards abortion. And considering those states are also run by people who get the most donations from Planned Parenthood…are you guys starting to notice something?
Conspiracy theories aside, it is worth noting how government is the reason this is even an issue in the first place. Notice how almost all these lawsuits come out of liberal states? Why aren’t the ones without massive anti-trust laws just as bothered?
However, even if none of this were true I wouldn’t be able to support the lawsuit against the Little Sisters of the Poor. The fact is, government has been used most to force people like myself to violate moral values, I cannot support the reverse just because I disagree with religious organizations.
Even today, many countries on this planet still have blasphemy laws that force millions of atheists like myself to violate their moral values by pretending to be religious.
It amazes me how many atheists feel like they need the validation of the religious. It was the same thing during the Jack Philips scandal. Why would a gay couple want validation from a Christian who feels gay marriage is wrong?
If you are a woman who uses birth control, that’s fine. You do not need the approval of Catholic fundamentalists to control your own body how you see fit.
The only thing we ask is that you do not force others to pay for it. Just as we shouldn’t force atheists to pay for visits in Christian, Muslim, and Scientologist hospitals.
This is why I feel like I most support the Catholic organization. A government large enough to cause a multiple millennium long religious system to violate a core principle is large enough to violate a much more recent ideology without a core consensus.
Why should I be bothered by an organization I disagree with disagreeing with me? Even if I should be bothered, why should I therefore ask a government that has historically been oppressing me and my fellow travelers to force the hand of people I don’t like.
Do you have a response to this article? Would you like to offer your own take on this topic? Feel free to submit your own article or offer a comment below.
Ephrom Josine is a libertarian political blogger/commentator, and a frequent contributor to The Liberty Hawk. In 2019, he published his first book Ramblings Of A Mad Man: Life As An Anarchist. You can find him on Twitter @EphromJosine1, writing near-daily on Medium @ephromjosine or weekly on Freedom First Blog.
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