WHAT DOES the United States increasingly have in common with the world's largest communist country, the People's Republic of China? The answer is that both are increasingly subordinating religious freedom and conscience to the power of the state.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government violated Americans' freedoms by issuing a mandate that requires employers, including faith-based ones, to provide and pay for all forms of contraception in their health care plans. Following a public outcry, the Obama administration offered an accommodation, shifting the burden from employers to health insurance providers. This so-called accommodation makes little difference in the mandate because it still forces religious employers to have this coverage in their health plans.

The mandate violates the U.S. Constitution and its first amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Under the mandate, however, Catholic hospitals, charities, colleges as well as individual Catholic employers who provide health care insurance to their employees must cover sterilization, birth control pills, and abortion-inducing drugs in health insurance plans, violating the clear teachings of the church.

Although a religious exemption exists, it covers only religious institutions that primarily serve members of their own faith. It does not protect any church institution that serves a considerable number of non-Catholics (more than 30 percent of Americans receive care in a Catholic facility), harming the ministries throughout the community. Failure to comply with the mandate would result in costly fines, forcing groups such as Catholic charities, hospitals, and schools to close their doors rather than violate their beliefs. Many Americans who benefit from their work and services would suffer as a result.

Many Catholics disagree with the church's teachings on contraception and abortion. The argument here is not about agreement or disagreement; it is about protecting freedoms that cannot be alienated by the government. The belief that rights are God-given, and therefore cannot be alienated by man, is the very foundation of our government.

GIVING, AND TAKING AWAY