HHS Mandate puts religious freedom at risk in US

(Vatican Radio) A new poll show most people in the United States support a mandate by the Obama Administration that requires business owners and faith-based non-profits to offer insurance coverage of contraception for employees, even when doing so conflicts with their religious principles.

Ed Stetzer, the president LifeWay Research, which conducted the survey, said the poll shows most Americans do not understand the mandate forces religious employers to lose the freedom to practice their faith.

"It is easy for Americans to desire to protect the freedoms of individuals over unnamed business entities," said Stetzer. "However, such generalizations may overlook the fact that more than 90 percent of businesses with employees are family businesses. Recent lawsuits contend that the religious freedoms of these families conflict with healthcare choices desired by individuals."

"The religious freedom that the United States pioneered is not a freedom of belief, but a freedom to practice that faith," Stetzer continued. "The American public appears unaware or unconcerned that some religious organizations and family businesses indicate fear of losing the freedom to practice their faith under the new healthcare regulations."

Dozens of organizations have filed lawsuits against the mandate, including the pro-life group Human Life International.

“Obviously as a Catholic institution opposed to contraception…and the idea of abortion and sterilization and all these other issues that emerge from it, …[the new law] puts us in a very, very difficult position that we can’t comply with, said HLI’s president, Father Shenan Boquet.

Listen to the interview by Charles Collins with Father Boquet: