Faith Forum: How do religions view recent decision?

Rajan Zed
9:11 p.m. PDT July 12, 2014

Supreme Court of the United States ruled on June 30 that some companies having religious objections can avoid contraceptives requirement of health care overhaul and paying for birth control devices and methods.

This has raised many questions. Do employers have the right to impose their religious doctrine on employees? Should employers be forced to cover birth control? Are employer's religious beliefs more important than employee's health choices and women's rights? Should the religious liberty interests of employers need to be protected? Is birth control a human right? Is it violation of religious freedom and liberty and their moral code to force employers to offer insurance coverage for birth control? Does this amount to extending employers' dominion over the personal lives of female employees? Should employers be given religion-based exemptions from all regulations they feel offensive to their beliefs, like paying for blood transfusions and vaccinations? Should corporations be allowed to run on the religious beliefs of their owners? Is this new law invasion of women's privacy? Can right to access to birth control be taken for granted? Is it discrimination to deny women access to full health benefits? Should government be in the business of forcing employers to act against their faith and asking owners to pay for contraceptive insurance which they regard as immoral? Can corporations, like people, hold religious beliefs?

Coincidentally, the five justices who supported this decision are Roman Catholics, while all the women justicesopposed it.

Some hail this decision as a great day for the religious freedom, while others view it as disturbing and returning to the era of keeping women pregnant and barefoot.

http://www.rgj.com/story/life/2014/07/13/faith-forum-religions-view-recent-decision/12553721/

Comments from a woman rabbi, an Orthodox priest, a Bahá'í teacher, a Christian pastor, a professor of religion, a Muslim, a Catholic priest, a Buddhist priest, and a Mormon are at the link.