The right to deny birth control as a "religious freedom" issue

Catholic bishops are at war with the Obama administration over its ruling that some Catholic institutions are not exempt from the requirement to include birth control coverage in insurance for their employees.  The bishops claim this interferes with their religious freedom.

They are already exempt from this requirement of the health care reform act for the employees of their institutions, like churches, whose primary purpose is to advance their religious beliefs.   This new ruling says that exemption cannot apply to institutions operated by Catholics for other purposes, such as hospitals and schools with secular, non-Catholic employees.

On first glance, it seems like they have an argument:   the Church is being forced to pay for something that goes against its religious and moral beliefs.

On reflection however, I realized that I'm forced to do this all the time.   My taxes go to pay for the Iraq war and to carry out capital punishments.   I am passionately, one might even say religiously, opposed both to unnecessary wars and to capital punishment.

So, no, that argument doesn't hold up for me.   After all, the policy does not require Catholics to use birth control, just not to deny it to their employees who choose to use it.  I don't even have a choice over my tax money going to kill Iraqi civilians or people on death row.

Ralph