Domino’s Pizza and the fight over contraception

I was getting ready to write an angry post about Domino’s Pizza, whose founder is suing the federal government over the Obamacare contraception coverage mandate. The Associated Press reports:

Tom Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn’t health care but a “gravely immoral” practice.

He filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court. It also lists as a plaintiff Domino’s Farms, a Michigan office park complex that Monaghan owns.

Monaghan offers health insurance that excludes contraception and abortion for employees. The new federal law requires employers to offer insurance including contraception coverage or risk fines.

Monaghan says the law violates his rights, and is asking a judge to strike down the mandate. There are similar lawsuits pending nationwide.

So here we go again, I was going to write. Another employer howls about his religious liberty when he can no longer impose his beliefs on his employees. (I’m sure it galls him that he can’t tell his workers how to spend their paychecks. No doubt he would make contraception illegal if he could.) And I was going to complain at some length about the way religion tends to warp believers’ concept of freedom, how the Church always controls and forbids to the extent of its power, how this is yet another reason why the connection between health insurance and employment makes no sense (as most of the rest of the world has already figured out).

All of which are good points. But wait… there’s another story here. Monaghan owns “Domino’s Farms,” not Domino’s Pizza. He sold the pizza company years ago. Domino’s Pizza posted on their Facebook page:

I don’t want to read too much into this. I don’t know much about Domino’s or how they treat their employees or what political causes they may have funded. But I don’t think you post something like this unless you realize that public association with the anti-contraception movement will be toxic to your business.

It looks to me like this movement is badly overplaying its hand. The main thing Monaghan and his allies are going to accomplish is to further discredit religion in the eyes of a growing number of skeptical Americans. Actions like this cement an idea in people’s minds: religion’s boasted “morality” has little connection to what’s actually good for people. It’s not about improving people’s lives. It’s about control.