The Department of Justice’s “accommodation” for religious colleges and other nonprofits who seek to avoid the contraceptive mandate – the basis of its argument to the Supreme Court to not extend the Hobby Lobby decision to evangelical Wheaton College – runs aground on Wheaton’s own “community covenant” document.
That’s according to veteran religion journalist Terry Mattingly, who directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
He writes on his Get Religion blog that the Wheaton covenant requires members of the community to
“uphold chastity among the unmarried (1 Cor. 6:18) and the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman (Heb. 13:4).” …
Must the college cooperate in offering its students and unmarried employees — in violation of its own doctrines — all FDA-approved forms of contraception, sterilizations and even “morning-after pills”? …
The groups in this second, doctrinally defined ministry category are, in effect, asking that the government allow their voluntary associations to defend their own teachings when dealing with members of their own communities.
The issue boils down to whether religious institutions like Wheaton have to “encourage” behavior that violates their beliefs, Mattingly says, quoting a Christianity Today report:
Some cases ask for broader exceptions than Hobby Lobby and Conestoga did. For instance, the court document granting an injunction to the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) notes that “The Network refuses to provide, subsidize, or support health insurance that in any way encourages the use of artificial contraception, sterilization, or abortion, all of which it considers ‘grave sin.’”
Read the whole blog post here.
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