Influence of Religion...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

Tehrik-e-Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, is a closely held, profit-making enterprise organized on religious principles. One of its principles, announced as public policy in July, 2012, is that children should not be inoculated against polio, because the vaccines violate God’s law. So sincere are the Taliban’s religious beliefs that its followers have assassinated scores of public-health workers who have attempted to administer polio vaccines in areas under Taliban control or influence.

This year, three out of five of the world’s new polio cases have been found in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, particularly in North Waziristan, where the Pakistani Taliban and groups like it have run a de-facto state since about 2008. The great majority of the polio victims are children under two years old.

If the Pakistani Taliban, aided by clever lawyers, organized a closely held American corporation, and professed to run it on religious principles, might its employees be deprived of insurance coverage to inoculate their children against polio? And would the Supreme Court, by the five-to-four decision issued on Monday in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, endorse such a move?

From The New Yorker the above excerpt, while seemingly absurd on the surface,is really not all that far fetched given the rationale used by five Catholic, male, and conservative SCJ in arriving at their majority decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell. The decision is flawed at many levels as was pointed out in the dissenting minority opinion. Indeed a minefield has been laid down, one that threatens the liberty of Americans as religion, especially religious fundamentalists continues to burrow into our secular government and the judiciary.

How long before we begin to resemble the likes of the Pakistani Tehrik-e-Taliban?

Continue reading HERE

Via: Memeorandum