Politics and other touchy subjects

I don’t usually like to get involved in political debates, but for some reason this particular topic is bugging me enough to write about it.
Here’s the situation as I understand it: some people in Congress, mostly Republicans, are upset because a new law would force all non-profit organizations, including religious organizations, to cover birth control under their health insurance policies. The Catholic church is particularly upset about this because many forms of birth control are contrary to their beliefs.
OK. But here’s the thing, there is a difference between a religious organization in its religious leadership role and a religious organization in its role as an employer. A church (or temple or mosque or what have you) has every right, even obligation, to instruct its members about which behaviors it deems proper and which are sinful. As a member of that religious organization a person is free to follow the doctrine of their religion or not, and on his or her head it be. If it is discovered that a person is flaunting the laws of the church, then the church is free to try to correct the person’s immoral ways or the person is free to leave the church. That is freedom of religion. A religious organization cannot force you to attend services or follow their rules or abide by their commandments. Churches do not have the right to incarcerate people or act as judge and jury, we have courts for that.
However, when the church or any non-profit organization is acting as an employer, the same rules do not apply. Unless I am much mistaken, we have laws in this country regarding what any employer can and cannot ask about its employees, either during the hiring process or after. We cannot choose to hire or fire based on age (excepting to ensure the applicant is over 18), sex, race, marital status, sexual orientation, family situation (ie. can’t fire a woman because she becomes pregnant) or religion. So despite the fact that the Catholic church sees premarital sex, homosexuality, divorce and not being Catholic as sins (or at least undesirable behaviors), they cannot refuse to hire people or fire them because of it. That’s how the law works.
I don’t happen to work for a Catholic organization, but I know many people who do and most of them are not Catholic. They should not be expected to abide by the same rules that Catholics choose to abide by with respect to religious beliefs and practices. If I were to go to work for a Muslim charitable organization, and they made me wear a headscarf, people would be in an uproar and they would be citing freedom of religion.  I’m not Muslim so I shouldn’t have to wear a hijab at work, I’m not Jewish so I shouldn’t have to keep Kosher during my lunch break.  So why is this situation any different?
And keep in mind that this law does not apply to the church itself. It does not apply to people employed in or by the Catholic church or any other place of worship, only to nonprofit organizations associated with them (ie. hospitals and service organization such as Catholic Charities).
I think what really upsets me about this whole debate is this notion some people seem to have that this will “force” women to use birth control or “force” doctors to prescribe it. Doctors do not have to prescribe birth control if it is against their beliefs and women certainly don’t have to use it. That being said most women, probably many Catholic women as well, use some form of birth control and all benefit from preventative care. Why should they be denied this just because they work for a religious organization? I understand that religious organizations do not want to pay for something they see as wrong, but how many times have they had to pay the health insurance for a child born out of wedlock or a divorced mother? And guess what? As more and more states pass same sex marriage laws, these organizations will have to offer family insurance packages to those families, like it or not.
The fact is that freedom of religion works both ways, the government can’t stop you from practicing your religion, but religious organizations cannot force nonmembers to adhere to their beliefs. And it is the responsibility of the government to be sure that all people have the same rights, no matter who they happen to work for,