“Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties challenged the mandate as a violation of the freedom of religion. The Court now must answer the questions of whether for-profit corporations can have a religious conscience and whether the birth control mandate substantially burdens the businesses’ free exercise of religion.”

This week, the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the birth control mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The mandate in question requires that companies with over 50 employees must provide health insurance that covers certain contraceptive devices that some believe are abortifacients, or pay a stiff fine.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties challenged the mandate as a violation of the freedom of religion. The Court now must answer the questions of whether for-profit corporations can have a religious conscience and whether the birth control mandate substantially burdens the businesses’ free exercise of religion.

These two cases come to the Court at a time when corporate conscience is more important than ever. Companies are marketing themselves as stewards of the environment, supporters of fair labor practices, of fair trade, and of the poor, and consumers are increasingly paying a premium for goods that align with those values. The market has fostered environmental stewardship and social justice products (e.g. Toms) because people are willing to pay for them.

Big and intrusive government threatens all types of rights of conscience. When government expands into new, values-laden areas, it is best to realize that while today it may be them, tomorrow it could be you. Those on the left who are opposing Hobby Lobby’s suit as an attempt to undercut women’s rights or as an attempt to let your boss choose your health care, should be thinking instead about the next big government mandate that could affect a business’s right of conscience that they actually care about.

Whole Foods, for example, is a corporation with a conscience. On their website they list the core values that are “truly important to us as an organization” and that “do not change from time to time, situation to situation or person to person, but rather are the underpinning of our company culture.” These include advancing environmental stewardship, a commitment to GMO labeling, and creating “win-win partnerships with suppliers” to treat them with “respect, fairness, and integrity at all times.”

Read More