Hobby Lobby decides they're a religion instead of a business, so they don't have to answer to the government, just God. — Page 4

"It wasn't about women's access to birth control, as Hobby Lobby has made clear they were only opposed to the abortifacients."
Except they are not abortifacients. A perfect example why you shouldn't base laws on religious superstition.

You mean to say an piece that originally came from a site called Religion News Service takes the hardline on when conception begins? I'm SHOCKED. Thanks so much for continuing to play the devil for us, Accessory!

Updated On: 7/1/14 at 01:30 PM

I'll continue to play Devil's Advocate.

Actually, don't.

Mkay? Thx.

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Please go away too.

Mkay? THX!

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Seems like I am not alone in my analysis. While I don't always agree with Erwin Chemerinksy, I do agree with him here. And, he is fascinating to listen to in person, even if you disagree with him.

"But a fictional entity cannot have a religious conscience or religious beliefs. The liabilities of the corporation are not attributed to the owners, so why should the owners be able to attribute their beliefs to the company?

This is no different for family-owned businesses than it is for any other corporations. Hobby Lobby, the corporation that challenged the contraceptive mandate, operates hundreds of stores with thousands of employees. By creating a corporation, the owners chose to get the benefits of having an entity separate from themselves; they should accept the burdens of not being able to claim that the business is an extension of their religious views.

Moreover, the court did not keep other corporations from claiming the same religious freedom; it just said that in this case it was considering only whether the contraceptive mandate infringed religious freedom for closely held corporations.

Second, the court mistakenly concluded that it substantially burdens the religious freedom of the corporation to require that it provide insurance that includes contraceptive coverage. The companies, and their owners and officers and directors, are not required to use or endorse contraception; they remain free to openly express opposition to the use of contraceptives. Never before has the Supreme Court found a substantial burden on a person's religious exercise where the individual is not himself required to take or forgo action that violates his or her religious beliefs but is merely required to take action that might enable other people to do things that are at odds with the person's religious beliefs."
The broad reach of the narrow Hobby Lobby ruling

'tis true.

You're still the same after all these years, my friend. Woof.

of course biologically, when a sperm fuses with an egg, and the fertilized egg implants itself into the uterine lining, pregnancy begins.

the question that the point dodges completely (and allows religious belief to override the hippocratic injunction, to the shame of the profession), is, is the fertilized egg a fully realized person who should be accorded all rights.

the answer to that is a resounding no, and it can be demonstrated thus.

we know a three day old fetus can split into twins. we also know that these twins, can, on occasion, fuse to become a chimera. in fact, many people can be demonstrated to be chimeras--they fused with their twin in utero! how then can one explain personhood? did one person decide to become two... and then changed "their" mind to become one? this is nonsense.

what seems overwhelmingly likely is that we are our brains. there is no serious evidence of the contrary. therefore the fetus cannot be a person until the higher neurologic structures mature from the notochord, which does not differentiate until roughly 40 days.

this is why it is imperative that women have access to reproductive medicine. even the loudest feminist can get queasy at the thought of terminating a more mature fetus. it is better to do this when we know the cellular structure in question cannot feel any pain or emotions because there is nothing there that allows that.

the religious have resisted this root and branch. every. single. step. no sex education. no prophylaxis. no contraceptives. no abortions. then, when the child is born into poverty, no welfare. it would be enough to make a cat laugh if it wasn't so nasty.

Updated On: 7/1/14 at 09:44 PM

"even the loudest feminist can get queasy at the thought of terminating a more mature fetus."

Do not let this patriarchal culture split you off from the feminists, especially the loudest ones. I'll be taking the streets with them the minute they say the word.

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I certainly have learned that I am two entirely different people.

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This did make me giggle.

I've been thinking a lot about that, too.

Well, someone I know posted on Facebook that this ruling is good and that Hobby Lobby is good because 80% of their employees are women and they pay high. So there you have it, Hobby Lobby loves women, except if they need certain medications. And it is okay to cover Viagra for men.

Actually, I was thinking about HIV treatments a bit and have concern that they might try to use religion against that and other diseases that they think only gay people get.

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