Government and Religion – Nonprofit Continuous Battles
One of the great advantages and privileges of attending law school is reading an immense amount, from a historical basis, about the push and pull of two concepts that seem to be in conflict. One that is constant throughout our country's history is the battle between government and religion. And I'm certainly not talking about whether there should be a national religion or if religion should be at the center point of Americans’ lives. Recently, there seems to be an increased pace in this continuous battle.
When a government entity wants to enforce or enact policy, they generally do it uniformly. That means it applies to everybody in that particular area or to all businesses. And yet, our First Amendment protects those who have religious beliefs. Today, we find government interaction with religious organizations at a fevered pitch.
There is a Supreme Court case in the state of Wisconsin about the unemployment system. In this particular situation, religious organizations would like to join their own unemployment group that provides the same level of service as the state-identified entity. The state doesn't like this. Thus, they sued saying they need all organizations, including religious ones, to be part of the general pool for unemployment benefits. Religious organizations say that infringes on their ability to be free of government intervention based on their doctrines.
This same tug and pull occurred with the Affordable Care Act and the requirement for certain medical procedures and testing to be available. Religious organizations sued with the perspective that this violated the tenets of their faith. You can go back in history and look at Supreme Court cases where there is a conflict between government legislation or regulations and religious organizations.
What I find interesting is that this overall issue isn't new. It almost began with the founding of our country. Where does the government's ability to create policy and society-wide rules interfere with the individual’s right to be free, based on religious beliefs? And how does that affect the considerable number of nonprofits that are founded based on religious premises or tenets?
It's a balancing act. Even those who are the most learned Supreme Court luminaries would agree that it's not always balanced correctly. But what's most important is the concept in the Constitution of a “more perfect union” that derives for us all to better ourselves each and every day.
