Interesting, even fun, but
The owners of Hobby Lobby are large, family-sized hypocrites. This is undeniable. Not only did they cover birth control quite happily before 2012, not only do they get their goods from China because that keeps their costs down, but they invest in
companies that produce emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and drugs commonly used in abortions.And not just birth control, but actual abortion drugs and equipment:
The companies Hobby Lobby invests in include Teva [...], as well as Pfizer, the maker of the abortion-inducing drugs Cytotec and Prostin E2. Hobby Lobby's mutual funds also invest in two health insurance companies that cover surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in their health care policies.But while pointing this out is a lot of fun, I worry about a possible consequence.
See, the thing is this: it's not because the Greens don't really believe their own story, or that it's easy to prove that. The sincerity of their "deeply held beliefs" doesn't matter.If we deny them their bid to not provide contraceptive coverage because it offends their belief by showing that their beliefs are highly convenient and mutable, then ... then we open the door to letting someone else with a firmer grasp on what "deeply and sincerely held" actually means actually win.
Then we let people pick and choose what law they obey by what religion they profess. That pastor in Tennessee, the one who won't perform interracial marriages? His congregants could refuse to serve or sell to such couples. A Muslim cab driver could refuse to pick up unaccompanied women. All kinds of Christians (and others!) could refuse to serve unmarried parents, or divorced-and-remarried folks. All those delicate folks in Arizona could refuse to bake cakes for gays.
No. Hobby Lobby needs to lose, but they need to lose because their argument is bad. Not because they're insufficiently sincere when they make it.
Labels: civilrights, freethought, gayrights, race
1 Comments:
I seem to recall that several years ago a Muslim cabbie in the Twin Cities refused to give a ride to someone with a guide-dog, because his form of Islam consideres dogs unclean. Cabbie eventually lost his case, but meanwhile the would-be passenger had of course had to find another ride, as well as having been publicly humiliated.
P.S. Unlike all of tonight's three contestants, I got "Final Jeopardy!" right :-)))
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