Oh, dear, what is that baying? It sounds like the religious right has let slip the dogs of culture war.</p><p>Listen to Pat Buchanan:</p><p>&#x93;In forcing the (Catholic) Church to violate its own principles, Obama has committed an act of federal aggression, crossing the line between church and state to appease his ACLU and feminist allies, while humiliating the Catholic bishops.&#x94;</p><p>He was referring to a proposed rule issued by the Obama administration that required all businesses to cover contraception in their health insurance policies. The rule carved out a conscience exception for churches but not for church-run institutions.</p><p>On Friday, the administration wisely announced it would alter the policy to require insurance companies to provide free birth control in cases where religiously affiliated employers refused because of conscience. That may placate some religious conservatives, but don&#x92;t count on it.</p><p>This controversy is not solely about religion; it&#x92;s also about politics.</p><p>Catholic doctrine puts contraception on the same plane of moral depravity as abortion. Using birth control is not merely a sin. It is, to quote a papal encyclical, an &#x93;intrinsic evil.&#x94; The church&#x92;s right to teach this dogma is not being challenged. Bishops, priests and schoolteachers will remain free to preach the wickedness of birth control. And the faithful will remain free to listen. Or not.</p><p>But, most Americans like contraception. Abortion divides, but the public is clearly in favor of contraception being legal and widely available. Medical authorities have come to regard it as essential to public health. Most American women &#x97; not the feminist harpies of Pat Buchanan&#x92;s imagination &#x97; regard contraception as an important freedom. Expanded access to contraception has driven down teen pregnancy and abortion rates in almost every demographic group over the last two decades. Those are good things, right?</p><p>So the Obama administration created a policy mandate, based on solid evidence, to serve a compelling public interest. In a democracy, it is the right of a government to make such a decision.</p><p>If policy conflicts with a religious group&#x92;s beliefs, that group can seek remedy in the courts. The Catholic Church has done so against state mandates similar to Obama&#x92;s, without success. Will it fare better against a federal mandate? Let it try.</p><p>In the meantime, people of faith may take solace in the fact that more than 335,000 religious bodies are exempt from the new directive by virtue of the fact that they predominantly employ and serve people within the faith.</p><p>Also, many Catholic-backed institutions are already required to provide health care options covering contraception, by state laws. These include major universities like DePaul.</p><p>Catholic-institutions employ and serve many outside of the faith. That is exemplary and laudable. Yet past case law has found repeatedly that when such faith-backed institutions reach into the secular world that deeply, the rights of the public must be honored.</p><p>This desire to control, to assert one morality over others, is coming from the other direction &#x97; from religious conservatives who see this as a skirmish in a new culture war. It&#x92;s being played that way because it&#x92;s politically expedient to do so in 2012, an election year.</p><p>Much of the backlash is an effort to limit women&#x92;s right to health care, including the right to make decisions about reproduction. Reminds you of the abortion issue? You&#x92;re not alone. That was the old cause. This is the new one. Access to contraception is the next target for religious conservatives bent on their version of morality trumping individual rights.</p><p>Proponents of the contraception rule could let this devolve into an ugly argument about religion. After all, the president is being traduced by prominent Catholics as an irreligious enemy of their church. That is pure calumny.</p><p> Republicans are playing the issue as evidence that Obama wants government to control all aspects of American life, even religious life. </p><p>Nothing could be further from the truth. This isn&#x92;t primarily about the separation of church and state. Health care is the issue. It is a woman&#x92;s right to have access to contraception if she so chooses. And that means including it in prescription drug coverage.</p><p>As for Buchanan&#x92;s &#x93;feminist allies,&#x94; who are they?</p><p>When it comes to users of birth control, it&#x92;s nearly every woman in America.