Apparently so.

If a theist objects on religious grounds to the provisions of the recently passed health care bill, it seems that he or she can opt out.

If an atheist objects, however, sorry. Unless that atheist happens to also be an Indian, an inmate, or a special hardship case, NO exemption.

Here are some of the details:

Amish Families Exempt From Insurance Mandate (Marc Heller/Watertown Daily Times; Jan 9)

HEALTH REFORM: People with religious objections can opt out

WASHINGTON: Federal health care reform will require most Northern New Yorkers — but not all, it turns out — to carry health insurance or risk a fine.

Hundreds of Amish families in the region are likely to be free from that requirement.

The Amish, as well as some other religious sects, are covered by a “religious conscience” exemption, which allows people with religious objections to insurance to opt out of the mandate. It is in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, making its appearance in the final version routine unless there are last-minute objections.

Although the Amish consist of several branches, some more conservative than others, they generally rely upon a community ethic that disdains government assistance. Families rely upon one another, and communities pitch in to help neighbors pay health care expenses.

The Amish population has been growing in the north country, as well as in New York generally. The state ranks sixth nationally in Amish population and posted the biggest net increase in Amish households — 307 — from 2002 to 2007, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

Lawmakers reportedly included the provision at the urging of Amish constituents, although the legislation does not specify that community and the provision could apply to other groups as well, including Old Order Mennonites and perhaps Christian Scientists.

A professor and lawyer at Yeshiva University in New York complained last summer that exempting groups for religious reasons could run afoul of the Constitution. Marci A. Hamilton, who teaches at the University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, wrote at Findlaw.com in August, “If the government can tolerate a religious exemption, then it must do so evenhandedly among religious believers with the same beliefs. This is sheer favoritism for a certain class of religions, or even for one religion.”

In her column, Ms. Hamilton speculated that lobbyists for the Christian Science Church were responsible for the provision, given their public stance that health care reform bills around the country should include religious exemptions. In an e-mail message Friday, she said she was unaware of the Amish interest in the bill and that their objections to the mandate surprised her because the Amish do buy vehicle insurance, for instance.

Ms. Hamilton said the exemption could harm the health of children whose families avoid medical care for religious reasons, although the Amish objections relate more to insurance than to medical care itself.

Congressional aides said the exemption is based on a carve-out the Amish have had from Social Security and Medicare taxes since the 1960s. Whether Amish businesses, however, would fall under the bill’s mandates is still an open question.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who was a key negotiator on the Senate bill, supports the religious exemption, said a spokesman, Maxwell Young, who called the provision a “no brainer.”

Mandatory ObamaCare Doesn’t Apply to Muslims (Jerry A. Kane/The Canadian Free Press; April 5)

WASHINGTON: ObamaCare’s “pay-or-play” mandates require that “all” Americans carry essential health insurance coverage or face penalties; however, “all” really doesn’t mean all after all. The recently signed bill contains a clause exempting certain religious groups, American Indians, illegal immigrants, and hardship cases (prison inmates) from ObamaCare’s health insurance mandate.

Senate Health Care Bill H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, statute 18 (5) EXEMPTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS reads…

…In the case of an individual who is seeking an exemption certificate under section 1311(d)(4)(H) from any requirement or penalty imposed by section 5000A, the following information:

(A) In the case of an individual seeking exemption based on the individual’s status as a member of an exempt religious sect or division, as a member of a health care sharing ministry, as an Indian, or as an individual eligible for a hardship exemption, such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

The Amish are exempt because they believe it is their church’s responsibility to care for the material needs of the members, not the government or insurance companies. When members of the Amish community have need of a doctor or a hospital, they get financial help from their church and neighbors and pay in cash for the services.

The clause is not exclusive to the Amish alone; it also applies to any individual whose religion does not believe in insurance.

“(P)eople who are conscientiously opposed to paying for health insurance don’t have to do it where the conscientious objection arises from religion,” said Mark Tushnet a Harvard law professor.

According to a reputable Islamic Web site managed by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid, Islam’s Council of Senior Scholars have issued fatwas (decrees) that not only prohibit Muslims from purchasing risk insurance, the fatwas also prohibit them from working for companies that provide such insurance or any other form of commercial insurance.

The Council’s fatwas brand risk insurance contracts “haraam” (forbidden) declaring that such contracts are based on probability and extreme ambiguity, gambling and riba (usury). However, Muslims are permitted to use health insurance that is paid for through a compulsory tax, such as the so-called “free” health care provided by U.S. hospital emergency rooms for those without insurance or can’t pay or government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare for people with low incomes and senior citizens respectively.

Members of religious groups applying for exemption from ObamaCare must prove to Health and Human Services bureaucrats that they are citizens and actual members of the recognized religious groups. The law requires the HHS Secretary to match the applicant’s personal information with the records on file at the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security to prove citizenship and religious status.

While the new law requires most Americans to sign up with insurance companies or government insurance plans, it’s clear that the Amish, Muslims, and possibly Christian Scientists will be permitted to claim exemption from the government mandates as conscientious objectors of having to carry health insurance….

Is Jerry Kane right?

Did these special exemptions for certain religious folks *really* make their way into the final bill?

Have the people who ardently embrace ancient superstitions once again been given the kind of special rights and treatment that non-superstitious rationalists can never hope to obtain?

The mind boggles….