However, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities argues the government’s decision to exempt some religious employers from providing contraceptive coverage while requiring others to comply with the mandate “demonstrates that the government’s approach is not the least restrictive means necessary to advance its interests.”
“Civil rights should not vary based on whether that institution is or is not affiliated with a church or other house of worship,” the council wrote in its brief to the Supreme Court. “Religious exercise is not tied to one’s affiliation but rather the source and sincerity of one’s belief and the desire to exercise it. That truth appears to be one the government has been unable to grasp or comprehend as it decides who is sufficiently ‘religious’ to have religious beliefs worthy of protection.”
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