Why The HHS Mandate Violates Religious Liberty

Christian Legal Society’s Center has been consistent in its arguments in the briefs it filed in the federal courts of appeals challenging the HHS Mandate’s violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. Click here to read the Argument Summary. The main arguments are as follows:

• For two years, many religious organizations have sought a definition of “religious employer” that respects all faith communities’ religious freedom, as the current definition fails to protect most religious ministries that serve as society’s safety net for the most vulnerable. Religious Definition Fails to Protect
• The so-called “accommodation” compels nonprofit religious organizations to provide access to drugs that violate their religious beliefs. Accommodation Fails
• The mandate’s inadequate definition of “religious employer” departs sharply from the Nation’s historic bipartisan tradition that protects religious liberty, particularly in the context of abortion funding. Religious Conscience
• Exemptions for religious conscience have been a bipartisan tradition in the health care context for four decades. Bipartisan Tradition
• The Mandate as applied to objecting religious organizations violates basic federal statutory and constitutional religious liberty protections. As Applied