Freedom of Religion or just Freedom to Worship?!

I recently stumbled upon some articles that have caused me to step back and contemplate our current state of government verses religious organizations.  

In an interview with Kyle Duncan, counsel for the Beckett Foundation (Hobby Lobby) with Kathryn Jean Lopez of the National Review Online, Lopez asks,

“What is the government arguing when it says Hobby Lobby is looking to become a law unto itself? What is the Obama administration arguing here and is it consistent with it posture toward religious liberty?”

Kyle responds, 

"The administration’s arguments in this case are shocking. Here’s what they are saying: once someone starts a “secular” business, he categorically loses any right to run that business in accordance with his conscience. The business owner simply leaves her First Amendment rights at home when she goes to work at the business she built. Kosher butchers around the country must be shocked to find that they now run “secular” businesses."

Kyle Duncan further states, 

“The administration’s position here — while astonishing — is actually consistent with its overall view of the place of religion in civil society. After all, this is the administration who argued in the Hosanna-Tabor case last year in the Supreme Court that the religion clauses of the First Amendment offered no special protection to a church’s right to choose its ministers — a position that the Court rejected 9-0. This is the administration which has taken to referring to “freedom of worship” instead of “freedom of religion” — suggesting that religious freedom consists in being free to engage in private rituals and prayers, but not in carrying your religious convictions into public life. And this is the administration who crafted a “religious employer” exemption to the HHS mandate so narrow that a Catholic charity does not qualify for conscience protection if it serves non-Catholic poor people.” (click here for the full interview National Review interview with Kyle Duncan)

What?  Really?  How is it the government’s responsibility to determine which organizations are religious and which are secular? 

I am not usually one for doom and gloom, however, these are some facts that lead me to believe not so good things are coming to those of us who seek to live our lives by our religious convictions.  It is not about “practicing religion” it is who we are.