Recently, a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States has led to Hobby Lobby denying four types of birth control to their employees because their deeply held religious beliefs make them feel that these four contraceptives are abortive measures.
That ruling has also recently extended to all forms of birth control as well in other cases.
However, there is one area that it has extended to that is a major deal with many progressives.
Back In 2012
Back in 2012, when the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Healthcare Act, there was a keynote in their ruling.
The ACA was upheld because it was viewed as a tax, due to the penalties being placed on people that refuse health insurance. Due to this, the court argued it is Constitutional since Congress has the power to levy taxes upon the United State’s citizens, according to the Constitution. Thus, the penalty argument that was made by the states that sued was rejected.
As was pointed out in an article by Salon, with Hobby Lobby being upheld, this can lead to others refusing to pay parts of their taxes that go towards things they disagree with — like war.
Pacifism
There are certain groups of people who are complete pacifists in this country due to their deeply held religious beliefs. Quakers, Minnonites, and the Amish to just name three, all have deeply held religious beliefs of pacifism.
They also pay taxes, as the rest of us do here in the United States.
While there are many numbers that go into the cost of warfare and our military industrial complex, I could not find a single number. All I could find were small numbers of what we pay towards various parts of war, like the money borrowed to fund it, the money that will be used to pay back the borrowed funds from other countries, and the money that goes to actually funding the war from us citizens.
However, those small numbers, as always, add up.
But, due to deeply religious held beliefs, should those who are Pacifists have to pay for something that they strongly stand against and have for several generations since the founding of this country?
According to the Hobby Lobby ruling, no. They have a right to challenge their money going towards war and destruction.
They have a right to refuse to pay those taxes that cover war.
And they have this right because, as was ruled in 2012, the ACA is a tax. Hobby Lobby and other companies are coming forward and refusing to pay certain parts or to provide certain parts that were mandated by this tax.
So, since Hobby Lobby and other companies, due to deeply held religious beliefs, are able to not provide or pay certain parts of taxes that are levied upon them, why should others have to pay taxes for things that go against their deeply held religious beliefs, especially when these others have fought for a couple of hundred years to not have to do so, and to not be drafted into war?
