| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Gregory Gadow" |
| Date: |
01 Mar 2004 04:34:36 PM |
| Object: |
Catholic Group Must Provide Birth Control |
Catholic Group Must Provide Birth Control
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - In a precedent-setting decision, the California Supreme
Court ruled Monday that a Roman Catholic charity must offer
birth-control coverage to its employees even though the church considers
contraception a sin.
The 6-1 decision marked the first such ruling by a state's highest
court. Experts said the ruling could affect thousands of workers at
Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions in California
and prompt other states to fashion similar laws.
California is one of 20 states to require that all company-provided
health plans must include contraception coverage if the plans have
prescription drug benefits.
The high court said that Catholic Charities is no different from other
businesses in California, where "religious employers" such as churches
are exempt from the requirement. Catholic Charities argued that it, too,
should be exempt.
But the Supreme Court ruled that the charity is not a religious employer
because it offers such secular services as counseling, low-income
housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without
directly preaching Catholic values.
The article continues at
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=4&u=/ap/20040301/ap_on_re_us/church_contraceptives
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"If you make yourself a sheep, the wolves will eat you."
-- Benjamin Franklin
.
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| User: "Lord Calvert" |
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| Title: Re: Catholic Group Must Provide Birth Control |
01 Mar 2004 05:22:51 PM |
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But the Supreme Court ruled that the charity is not a religious employer
because it offers such secular services as counseling, low-income
housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without
directly preaching Catholic values.
Catholic Charities separately incorporated themselves specifically so that they
could receive government funding while maintaining that they were a secular
organization and not a religious one. Seems like they just got hoist by their
own petard.
Rich Goranson, Amherst, NY, USA (aa#MCMXCIX, a-vet#1)
EAC Department of Applied Rattan Use
"Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking, which
leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy." - Robert Anton
Wilson
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