(CNSNews.com) - A California appellate court's decision, which sided with a state law that requires employers to offer contraceptives in their prescription drug plans, is in fact, an assault on religious freedom, according to Catholic officials.
In a landmark religious-liberty case, the California Court of Appeals ruled Monday that while religious organizations are exempt under the Women's Contraception Equity Act, the Catholic Church must provide contraception to employees in secular areas such as charities, hospitals and universities.
Seventh-Day Adventists and some evangelical Christian churches supported Catholic Charities of Sacramento in its campaign against the California law, which contradicts Catholic teaching that contraception is a sin.
"I think people of all faiths ought to be alarmed," said Carol Hogan, communications director for the California Catholic Office. "They understand that the issue is not contraception," Hogan said. "The issue is religious freedom."
In issuing its ruling, however, Presiding Justice Arthur G. Scotland dismissed the idea that religious freedoms were being violated.
"Requiring the policies to cover prescription contraceptive methods -- so as not to discriminate against women -- cannot be said to inhibit religion, even if its parent entity is a religious organization that believes the use of contraceptives is a sin," Scotland wrote in his opinion.
While 15 other states have laws similar to California's, none had challenged the exempt status of Catholic Charities -- a social services arm of the church -- until this recent case brought before the appellate court.A Harbinger?
Catholics are "deeply troubled" by the decision, calling it the government's most aggressive intrusion into the Catholic faith and a sign of things to come for other faiths.
"It has far-reaching consequences," said James Sweeney, an attorney who represented Catholic Charities. "The state has imposed a mandate upon a church to engage in conduct that a church fundamentally believes is sinful and wrong."
Sweeney said his legal team is reviewing the ruling and will likely appeal the case to the California Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the court ruling divides the church into secular and spiritual bodies, Hogan said, creating a standard that would classify Mother Theresa as a secularist for her charitable work.
"It's a misperception of what religion is," Hogan said. "The Catholic Church is more than Mass on Sundays. We were taught by Jesus that we should help our neighbors, feed the hungry and clothe the poor. That is acting out on our faith."Reproductive Rights
The ruling comes as women's rights groups ratchet up their campaign to require employers to cover contraceptives in their prescription drug health packages. And the California appellate court decision comes just weeks after a federal court in Seattle ruled an employer was discriminatory in not providing coverage for birth-control pills.
"This is an important victory for women's equality and reproductive freedom," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Margaret Crosby, who defended in the Catholic Charities case, told the Los Angeles Times.
Planned Parenthood lauded the ruling, arguing that Catholic Charities doesn't justify a religious exemption because most of its employees are non-Catholics.
"Planned Parenthood respects the right of Catholic people who choose not to use contraceptives," president Kathy Kneer said in a statement. "However, it is wrong for an employer to impose its religious views on employees."