I am kicking over a hornet’s nest. Religion, that prickliest of subjects, is once again center stage at the U.S. Supreme Court, as Chief Justice John Roberts’ Robed Nonet prepare to decide whether a corporate employer may refuse, on religious grounds, to comply with the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act. If that challenge succeeds, it will mark a major breach in the (sometimes porous) wall separating church and state.
Remember the good old days when a corporation’s only faith was in its bottom line? Alas, now that baby boomers are at the helm, corporations have discovered the profit in identity politics: Companies are people too. And, like the rest of us walking, breathing, thinking beings, corporations now have the right to express themselves in some very personal ways: most notably by engaging in political speech protected by the First Amendment, per Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).
