ext_90803 ([identity profile] badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] talkpolitics2012-11-28 05:32 pm
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Corporate Religion

A few cases involving the mandates on employers have come down in the last week, which raise some interesting issues:

* In Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, the Washington, DC district court granted an injunction on penalties stemming from the publishing house's refusal to offer contraceptive coverage, citing religious freedom. Of the key findings from the ruling, it was held that even the indirect burden is enough to cause a religious liberty issue, and that the government lacked a compelling interest in handing down the mandate.

* In Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, an Oklahoma district court ruled in favor of the federal government in part because the ruling differentiated between for-profit and religious corporations, making a distinction between organizations involved in worship and organizations that, at least according to this judge, are for-profit or simply religiously-associated.

We now have 4 lower court rulings in play right now regarding the contraception mandate. All four involved for-profit institutions, only Hobby Lobby ruling in favor of the government on the issue, and none of this has anything to do with the Liberty University case that just made it back to the 4th Circuit.

Why shouldn't corporate entities have religious freedom rights? Especially in the case of places like Hobby Lobby, who outright state that '[T]he foundation of our business has been, and will continue to be strong values, and honoring the Lord in a manner consistent with Biblical principles." Given the first amendment, hasn't the government clearly overstepped their bounds?

[identity profile] dwer.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
It's not about silencing or neutering. It's about recognizing that none of the above non-profits are actually people, and therefore are not accorded rights.

WWF, ACLU and the Red Cross don't ask for them. Funny, that...

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
It doesn't necessarily have to be over this particular issue. I imagine it's not all that difficult to think of circumstances under the same umbrella of 'no speech/religious' rights that those other organizations would object to just as strenuously. Depends how much whatever is being stipulated by law offends the organization in question. It's not going to be the same stipulation that sets every organization off, only the ones which those organizations are sensitive to.

Let's stop political organizations with charters from speaking too. Any time two or more people get together to combine efforts/voices under a paper charter, it must be quashed.

Who needs a reason to do it? They don't have rights, and that's all that matters.

[identity profile] dwer.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
That's not what I'm talking about, and I'm damned sure you know that. The Sierra Club doesn't suggest that they have a religious right to clean air, therefore attempting to stop industry. Give me a fucking break.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Why would it hinge on religion alone? The group has no free speech rights either. Let the FCC block all advertising for the Sierra club. No mailers, no advertisements in the paper, zip. They might suggest they have a right to speech, therefore attempting to sway public opinion in favor of lowering their contribution to air pollution, but that's not the case, is it?

Better yet, scratch that and compel them into providing equal air time to the oil industry.

It doesn't have to be a religious issue to qualify for this discussion, as the argument against rights for groups on paper, is the based on the same foundation as the lack of rights to free speech et al.

It's not right or just, or even likely to happen, but it's possible to do if they don't have the right to speak, and that alone should give pause to the eager.

[identity profile] dwer.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
I have no issue with suggesting that the group has no right to free speech, just like any other corporation has no right to free speech. I've said that a dozen times before, and I'll say it again:

Corporations are not people, and have no right to free speech. They have no right to free religion. They have no right to refuse to incriminate themselves, because a corporation is not a them, a corporation is an IT.

The FCC, as a regulatory mechanism, is constrained to act fairly.

I have no problem with any of that. Because I recognize that corporations aren't people, and somehow, bizarrely, you people cannot.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
This is the kind of response that almost makes me want to bestow that old Chinese blessing on you: May you get everything you ever want.

Almost.

[identity profile] dwer.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
it's too bad you won't completely give in to your superiority complex.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
You see that in me? Go on. Don't leave it there.

Explain.

[identity profile] yes-justice.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, instead of explaining why you thought dwer was wrong, you just made a quip (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1615106.html?thread=129336834#t129336834), which was disappointing for us following along.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
The subtext in the Chinese proverb I quoted is that I think getting what he seeks, and getting it consistently in this case would be perilous for all, in ways that even he would find objectionable.

I didn't 'just make a quip', it was another way to suggest that the implications might be more than he imagined and not in a good way.

A solo artist sings and has a right to sing, but the effect of what is being offered above would in essence say that the moment you join your voice with others under a paper charter, that right disappears and the group of people as a whole can be made to shut up. Legally. Because of a stupid piece of paper whose primary purpose is to define the legal structure of the group, not affect the rights of the people within the group to speak together. This is the root. If you agree with this there is no chance we're going to find a mutual understanding or answer.

Using the proverb was also a way to end the thread. We were at loggerheads.

[identity profile] yes-justice.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
the implications might be more than he imagined and not in a good way.

And the subsequent suffering would be sweet irony....yeah, I got it the first time.


A solo artist sings and has a right to sing, but the effect of what is being offered above would in essence say that the moment you join your voice with others under a paper charter, that right disappears and the group of people as a whole can be made to shut up. Legally. Because of a stupid piece of paper whose primary purpose is to define the legal structure of the group, not affect the rights of the people within the group to speak together.

That is a bit more substance than "you'll be sorry!"


a way to end the thread

It didn't end the thread. It devolved into this "explain" thread.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
It shouldn't take a paragraph to explain why eliminating rights on the basis of a group's legally defined structure on a piece of paper that deals with defining structure and has nothing to do with the rights of the group as a group of people, is a bad idea for everyone.

We had already discovered that dwer does not think any chartered group or organization has rights. Once we've established that, as I believe we already had at that point, what is there left to say but "you might not like what you get if you do"?

All I said to you was to restate what had already been said.

Why are we talking about talking?

[identity profile] yes-justice.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
It shouldn't take a paragraph to explain why eliminating rights on the basis of a group's legally defined structure on a piece of paper that deals with defining structure and has nothing to do with the rights of the group as a group of people, is a bad idea for everyone.


Took a sentence, which is better than your original quip.


Why are we talking about talking?

Because you asked why your quip came across with a superior `tude.
Edited 2012-11-29 18:49 (UTC)

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Warning that it might be dangerous to have something you want to see come about is copping a superior attitude?

[identity profile] yes-justice.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
The way you did it, sure. Telling someone you see a danger of X happening is a bit different than wishing danger upon them. Also, that whole "it shouldn't take a paragraph to explain" thing is a pretty superior tude.
Edited 2012-11-29 19:22 (UTC)

[identity profile] mahnmut.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm wondering who'll be the first to realize the uselessness of this exchange, and eventually return on-topic. Been following with an increasingly morbid fascination thus far.

[identity profile] jerseycajun.livejournal.com 2012-11-29 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
It should be noted that I would be wishing it on myself as well. Public policy has a tendency to not just burn your neighbor's house down when it goes wrong, but your own as well. Which is why I said almost, as in, it's a tempting thought tempered by what effect it would have on all of us, myself included.

And what is being said is fairly straightforward. I could belabor the point, but even before my supposedly incendiary comment, I think all had been said that could be said between the two of us.

Can both of us just let this die already? The thread is beyond saving.