Of course: White House argues that Nuns are NOT exempt from birth control mandate…

If anyone was surprised about this, they shouldn’t be.

(via LIFENEWS.com) – The Obama administration has filed legal papers appealing a decision by the Supreme Court to protect a group of Catholic nuns from being forced to obey the controversial birth control mandate.

As LifeNews reported this week, in a huge 11th-hour victory for pro-life advocates, the Supreme Court issued an order late Tuesday night stopping the Obama administration from forcing a group of Catholic nuns to obey the HHS mandate that compels them to pay for abortion-causing drugs and birth control.

In an interview after the decision, the White House said forcing the Catholic nuns to pay for those objectionable things that run counter to Catholic Church pro-life teachings strike’s the right “balance.”

It followed up on that comment with papers asking the Supreme Court not to exempt Catholic groups from the HHS mandate. The administration responded just before the Friday morning deadline.

“Applicants have no legal basis to challenge the self-certification requirement or to complain that it involves them in the process of providing contraceptive coverage.,” the Obama administration said in its papers.

This White House has never cared a whit about Religious Conservatives’ concerns about birth control. Not originally, and certainly not now.

The recent political speed-bump of Justice Sotomayor’s temporary injunction against the contraceptive-coverage mandate notwithstanding, the Administration is only concerned about getting Obamacare rolled through/around/over anyone and anything in their way.

So when I hear gentle assurances from the White House about how they are “confident” that they’re “balancing” Conservatives’ concerns in this area, I’m more than skeptical: I know they’re lying.

However, if you’re not up-to-speed on exactly who or what the Little Sisters of the Poor are, here’s a primer from last year:

And since that video doesn’t help you with why the Administration would maintain that the nuns had no “legal basis” to “challenge” or “complain” about the mandate, here’s what they’re talking about:

(via FoxNews.com) – The Obama administration crafted a compromise, or accommodation, that attempted to create a buffer for religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups that oppose birth control. The law requires insurers or the health plan’s outside administrator to pay for birth control coverage and creates a way to reimburse them.

“In short, under the accommodation, applicants must authorize their third-party administrators or insurance companies to provide the very products and services they find morally objectionable,” (Lawyer Noel J. Francisco) said. “Suffice it to say, the ‘accommodation’ does not resolve applicants’ religious objection to participation in this regulatory scheme.”

All the White House is trying to do is give plausible deniability to religious organizations, so that (if they want to) the organizations may claim to be acting within their religious beliefs. Of course, that’s plainly laughable.

Coverage costs money: just because it’s not itemized on the bill doesn’t mean the cost isn’t included. And if I am mandated to make that company (which offers that coverage) available to my employee, then I’m being mandated to facilitate their access to the coverage.

In short, I’m being MADE to assist in the process, which is expressly the problem.

Bottom line: if they’d wanted to, the Federal Government could’ve just provided birth control directly (h/t HotAir.com), rather than forcing insurance companies to provide it and employers to offer it. They chose to do it in this in-your-face way deliberately, knowing it to be an essential pillar of faith and church teaching.

Why, you ask? Because they want the fight, and because they believe they’ll win.

Last month Erick Erickson (over at RedState.com) wrote that in the current culture war, we are no longer being allowed to opt out of these skirmishes: we are being MADE to care. Which means we each will have to choose which side we’re on in these confrontations, and decide if we’ll stick together through their conclusion.

Which puts me in mind of one of my favorite sayings, from one of my favorite historical figures:

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately…” 

–Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence