The “wall of separation between church and state” is, and should be, equipped with a door.
The U.S. Bill of Rights says that government cannot impose a state religion or interfere with Americans’ practice of religion. It does not say that religion must be banned from the public square.
Indeed, the contrary is the case, by any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution: Government must accommodate religion, without endorsing any particular religion.
But in the current dispute over a federal rule requiring health insurance plans to cover contraception, the door in the “wall of separation” does not seem to swing both ways.
Those who would object to religion crossing over into the public arena, in everything from prayers at public meetings to public funding of scholarships for parochial education, apparently have little objection to government crossing into the arena of religion by imposing health rules contradictory to the deeply held religious beliefs of some Americans.
Let’s be fair. Let’s be honest. We cannot say that religion must not touch government yet government can dictate to religion. That not only is hypocritical, it is unconstitutional.
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