Many Times-Union readers want to know:
A forwarded e-mail starts off with "Word of the Day: Dhimmitude, the Muslim system of controlling non-Muslim populations conquered through jihad." The e-mail goes on to say that ObamaCare is the establishment of Dhimmitude in the U.S. and that Muslims are "specifically exempted from the government mandate to buy insurance and from the penalty tax for being uninsured." Is this true?
The definition of Dhimmitude is accurate, according to various Islamic sources, but the e-mail carries other claims a little too far - at least for now.
First, you can search the entire health care law - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (go to thomas.loc.gov, click on H.R. 3590, text of legislation and select version 7) - but you won't find any mention of Muslim or Islam. That's because there is no specific mention of any religion in the law.
There is, however, an exemption section that allows an individual to apply for an exemption from the tax "if he is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof and is an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance ... ."
MSNBC reported that the exemption originally was meant for Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, who do not buy insurance because they believe God has directed them to take care of their own. The Amish traditionally have not participated in government-run programs such as Social Security (self-employed Amish are exempted from the tax and do not collect benefits) or Medicare.
But could the section of the act be used to grant Muslims an exemption?
The fact-finding groups FactCheck.org and Snopes.com point out that there has been no determination which religious groups' members might qualify for the exemption. The health care law itself uses as its exemption definition Title 26 U.S. Code section 1402(g)(1), which defines the religious groups considered exempt from Social Security payroll taxes. Eligible sects must have established tenets that forbid any "payment in the event of death, disability, old-age, or retirement or makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care (including the benefits of any insurance system established by the Social Security Act)." The groups also must be approved by the Social Security commissioner.
FactCheck.org, however, says that it has yet to find any cases in which members of religious groups other than the Old Order Amish were successful in claiming the exemption. In fact, the federal government and the courts have been very strict on such exemptions in the past, even among some Amish, FactCheck.org notes.
For instance, the Supreme Court found in 1982 that a member of the Old Order Amish claiming an exemption was subject to payroll tax for his employees because 1402 (g) applies only to the self-employed. And in two cases where self-employed individuals claimed a religious opposition to Social Security but weren't members of approved sects, they were also ordered to pay the tax, FactCheck.org reports.
The Christian Science Church, a religious group with restrictions on health care use, has stated publicly that members will be subject to the insurance requirement, according to FactCheck.org.
Islam does have a tradition of banning insurance products because they "involve an element of uncertainty, gambling and the charging of interest, which are prohibited by the Koran," according to a Times of London article quoted by Snopes.com. But Muslims don't have a history of spurning Social Security, which they consider a form of caring for those unable to meet their own needs than as something that involves gambling or uncertainty, Snopes.com reports.
So while it is possible that a Muslim could be exempted from purchasing insurance, we'll have to wait to see what develops in the exemption arena before that part of the law takes effect in 2014.
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