Hercules Industries, a family owned HVAC business in Denver, Colorado, won an injunction against the employer mandate to cover contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs in its health care plans on June 27. They brought suit because of their beliefs as Catholics which demand they refuse the Health and Human Services mandate outlined in the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. However the Obama Department of Justice is ignoring the injunction and going after the family and their business over the mandate.
Paul Newland, speaking on behalf of his family, said,
“Faith is not a two-hours-on-Sunday-morning event. It’s a lifestyle that we live – and have for 50 years.”
He also went on to say, “ObamaCare puts us in a really bad position. You can either choose to abandon your faith – and you clearly know how we feel about that – or you can pay millions of dollars of fines that would eventually cripple our business and harm the company and all of its employees.”
This past Tuesday the Obama DOJ appealed the ruling of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction.
“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.
Americans must stand together on this issue or we will fall apart, which is just what the administration wants. Call your representatives and Senators and demand they take a stand against Eric Holder and the DOJ on this matter that is supposed to be protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which these people took an oath to protect and defend on behalf of the people they represent. Let your voice be heard on behalf of your fellow Americans, because it may be you that becomes the target of a tyrannical federal government mandate next.
