The owners of Hercules Industries — from left to right, James Newland, Paul Newland, William Newland, Andrew Newland — won an injunction in July to stop the Obama administration’s health care mandate that requires employers provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception — a requirement they say violates their Catholic beliefs. (Courtesy: ADFMedia.org)
The Obama Justice Department appealed a court ruling and will push forward in its quest to punish a Catholic family in Colorado for refusing to comply with its anti-Catholic HHS mandate.
LifeSiteNews reported:
A judge’s order will not stop the Obama administration from pressing forward in its quest to punish a Catholic family’s business for refusing to comply with the HHS mandate.
Hercules Industries, an HVAC business in Denver, won an injunction against the controversial provision requiring employers to cover contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs in its health care plans on July 27.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department appealed the ruling to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, also based in Denver.
“On the same day President Obama spoke of religious freedom at United Nations, his Justice Department acted to deny that freedom to small business owners,” said Maureen Ferguson and Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com.
The Newland family sued HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, saying the mandate violated their mutual Catholic faith.
“The cost of religious freedom for this family could be millions of dollars per year in fines that would cripple their business and potentially destroy jobs if the administration ultimately has its way,” said Matt Bowman, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom. “In filing its appeal today, the administration sent a clear message that it wants to force families to abandon their faith in order to earn a living. That’s the opposite of religious freedom.”
The Obama administration has rhetorically shifted from supporting “freedom of religion” to “freedom of worship,” a change its detractors believe is designed to suppress religious opposition to growing secular regulation.
“Under the Obama Constitution, family business owners like the Newlands of Hercules Industries may practice their religion on Sundays, within the four walls of their church, but they have no right to practice that faith during the work week,” Ferguson and McGuire said.
On the same day Obama spoke on religious freedom at the UN and defended Muslims he acted to deny that same freedom to a Catholic business owners.
It’s an Obama world.
