Let me start off by saying I've never blogged before. I've never written anything down just for the sake of writing. I haven't even kept a journal or diary since my college years when I had to for class. I don't consider myself to be a writer at all. But I DO think writing is a good way to get things off my chest and vent a bit...so...here goes!
I'm a Christian Conservative. If we are friends and the idea of religion and/or conservatism offends you, then you can probably stop reading now because I'm probably going to offend you. Be warned!
A big decision by the Supreme Court was handed down yesterday in favor of religious freedom and against government intervention. It was a narrow 5-4 vote for the company Hobby Lobby against the government mandated Affordable Care Act that would have forced Hobby Lobby to pay for a controversial contraception also known as "The Morning After Pill" or "The Abortion Pill". This goes against the religious beliefs of Christians in that life begins at conception. Therefore, it went against the beliefs of David and Barbara Green, the founders of Hobby Lobby.
To be honest with you, I'm a little surprised and shocked at the response I've seen on social media after this decision was made by the Supreme Court. I, actually, thought it was a pretty obvious breech of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America which says...
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble , and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The founding father's knew all to well that an overgrown and tyrannical government can cause great harm to a Republic such as ours, so they put this amendment FIRST in the Bill of Rights. Religion, Speech, the Press (that's a story for a future blog, by the way!), and the ability to question one's government without the possibility for reprisal is CRUCIAL to the health of a Democratic Republic such as ours.
Apparently though, many people don't feel this way. They don't see this case for what it was...a fight against Big Government overstepping it's bounds against the people. Instead, they see it as a Big Corporation overstepping against it's employees. That's simply not the case! As stated above, Freedom of Religion is part of the Constitution...government mandated abortion pills are not!! It's that simple. In fact, it's downright scary that this case was decided by a single vote of the Supreme Court!
Social media has been flooded with people claiming that the constitutional rights of women have been violated by this decision and that Hobby Lobby should be boycotted and shut down...that such a vile and destructive company should not be allowed to exist as it will surely poison our society and set us as a country back a 100 years or more! Why can't we be more like the Europeans!!!??? I shouldn't be shocked...but I am. I knew there would be a few on Facebook and Twitter that would come out and be heard. But I have personal friends who are saying such things as "Burn the damn stores down!" and "Let's organize a protest and tell these (DELETED) what we really think of them!" Really? You want to burn down a company that starts it's employees off at $14+ an hour? A store that gives EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE Sunday's off to spend time with their family whether they are religious or not? A store that pays for all the health coverage except 4 little contraceptives that are the very antithesis of their upbringing and being?
I wonder how many Hobby Lobby employees are actually demonstrating and complaining today? I have a suspicion that there are very few. I have a hard time believing an employee would want to burn down or harm a business that's paying them a pretty good wage WITH health benefits. I mean, I'm sure every single one of them would be happy to go to Wal-Mart or McDonalds and make $7.50 an hour as long as they pay for those four contraceptives!
