A humble victory for religious freedom - Sotomayor delays unconstitutional Obamacare contraception mandate!

Supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has awarded a last-minute stay against Obamacare to religious groups who say the law's contraception mandate violates the religious freedom of individuals who own and manage businesses. The law requires these people to pay for services that are against the fundamental teachings of Christianity.

LOS ANGELES, Ca (Catholic Online) - A humble order of Catholic nuns in Colorado, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, have won a stay for all religious organizations and businesses in the country from Supreme court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

The main case has been brought by the popular arts and craft store, Hobby Lobby, which has argued that the mandate violates their religious liberty.

The Obamacare HHS mandate, which is functionally an edict of the administration, demands that every organization pay to provide contraceptives for their employees, regardless of religious considerations. This edit placed many organizations, such as religious orders which may hire laypersons for some duties, in a dangerous situation. Religious organizations face a difficult choice between following the edict of the Obama administration and participate financially in morally objectionable behavior, or pay punishing fines that could collapse some organizations.

While some larger for-profit businesses such as Hobby Lobby could probably absorb the costs, smaller non-profit organizations and orders simply can't.

Of course, the trampling of Christian conscience is the genuine threat that should alarm every American since the issue is fundamentally a First Amendment issue.

Sotomayor has stayed the objectionable portion of the law and gave the government until Friday to reply.

In asking for a stay, groups said in a joint statement: "Tomorrow, a regulatory mandate will expose numerous Catholic organizations to draconian fines unless they abandon their religious convictions and take actions that facilitate access to abortion-inducing products, contraceptives, sterilization, and related education and counseling for their employees."

Most analysts believe that the employers will win their case, if the government pursues it. If the Obama administration drops their case however, then it will represent a major victory for the First Amendment and religious employers across the nation, who while subject to the bulk of Obamacare mandates, will at least be able to exempt themselves from the worst of the law.

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