Democratic candidate for the open Senate seat in Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, whose constituency is a little over 1/3 Catholic, when commenting on working in the emergency room graciously allowed that you can keep your religious freedom as a Catholic, but it would be best if you don't work in an emergency room if they might have any moral qualms about some issues. She notes that we have "separation of church and state". As I've previously discussed, these words do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. It's called the Establishment Clause, not the Separation Clause, of the First Amendment. What Coakley is saying is that the legislature, by creating a right to health care, is actually creating a right that takes precedence over the free exercise of religion (note that "Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise (of religion)" does actually appear in the Constitution). This is just one more instance in which progressives reveal their belief, whether express or subconscious, that the legislature is the source of rights and that any natural rights granted by a Creator are secondary, if they exist at all.
But then, who would expect a member of the legislative branch to understand the Constitution these days?
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