The Democratic Left Wants to Deprive Churches of their Insurance, Too

The same party that kicked God out of their platform wants to kick Him out of U.S. insurance policies, too. Everyone from Barry Lynn to Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, is deploying their troops to a new battlefield: the church. Already, congregations are trying to prepare themselves for the storms ahead — with many, National Review points out, frantically calling insurance companies to see what kind of coverage they have if they’re sued for not performing same-sex “weddings.” The answer is: not much. “Churches, like virtually every functioning corporation, protect against liability risks and the potentially ruinous costs of litigation through liability insurance. With same-sex marriage now recognized as a constitutional right — and with news of [the Kleins’ $135,000 punishment]… pastors are reaching out to insurance companies to make sure they’re covered.” Unfortunately for them, David French writes, they aren’t. “In other words: churches, you’re on your own.” On one hand, the Left is trying to cripple churches’ ability to fight back, and on the other, they’re trying to strip away protections for the everyday believer. Like most liberals, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz isn’t hiding the fact that religious liberty is next on her kill list, especially for individual Americans. “I think [our country] made the distinction between protecting the First Amendment rights for religious organizations or religiously-affiliated organizations and being able to discriminate, broadly, simply because of one individual who owns a business and their own values and their being able to impose those values on either their employers or their customers,” she told CBN’s David Brody. Once again, liberals are setting up the faulty argument that religious exercise must be confined to institutions — not individuals. As any constitutional scholar would tell you, that’s a deliberate distortion of the First Amendment! It’s like saying the Second Amendment only applies in gun clubs. The reality is, and the Founders understood, religious liberty is a fundamental human freedom. In fact, it was Eleanor Roosevelt — from Wasserman-Schultz’s own party — who chaired the drafting committee of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. And it could not be more clear: “[E]veryone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” What’s happened to the Democratic Party? After 70 years, there’s nothing “democratic” about it!