When, two years ago, New York’s Legislature passed the Women’s Health and Wellness Act, lawmakers knew it posed a threat to religious freedom. According to the law, all group health insurance policies that offer prescription drug coverage must include coverage for prescription contraceptives, which some religious denominations regard as sinful. The state Senate’s version of the bill exempted religious organizations: “If the group or entity, on whose behalf the contract is issued, is operated, supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization or denominational group or entity, then nothing in this subsection shall re quire the contract to cover any contraceptive drug or device that is contrary to the religious tenets of such group or entity,” the law read.

Most other states that have passed “contraceptive equity” laws in recent years have adopted similar exemptions for religious groups. But the New York State Assembly narrowed the exemption to include only employers whose main purpose is the “inculcation of religious values” and who primarily serve and employ people of the same religious faith. In other words, churches and synagogues may apply for an exemption, but religious charities, schools, and nursing homes – because they exist primarily to serve the public and often employ and serve people of varying faiths – aren’t covered.

“Unless we discriminated against non-Catholics, we couldn’t be called a Catholic organization,” said a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, Dennis Poust. But Catholic charitable groups serve the public out of a religious mission. “Catholics believe as part of our faith that good works are necessary for salvation. Our charitable works and our health care are ways we live our faith,” said Mr. Poust. “We can’t give a religious test to people who come to our emergency rooms or who come to our charitable agencies. We’re not in business to serve only Catholics.”

Still, it’s understandable that the groups don’t want to violate their faith in order to do so, which they would do by subsidizing contraception. Catholic Charities of Albany, along with Catholic health care organizations and schools, have challenged the law as a violation of religious freedom. Two Protestant churches also serve as plaintiffs in the case. This month, an Orthodox Jewish charitable group, Agudath Israel of America, filed an amicus brief endorsing their position.

The Aguda does not find its own religious convictions challenged by the law. “Unlike the plaintiffs-appellants and many of the religious organizations that have submitted an amicus brief supporting them, Agudath Israel does not oppose providing its employees with prescription drug coverage that includes contraceptive coverage. To the best of our knowledge, the same is true of other Jewish groups,” the brief reads. “Nonetheless, other faith-based service providers do perceive it as a burden, and we have an enormous stake in the right of any religious community to freely exercise its faith.”

Last year, New York’s Supreme Court enforced a distinction between religious organizations and charitable groups. Religiously affiliated social services such as Catholic Charities, the court said, are “public actors” because they serve the general public employ people of diverse faiths. The case is now before the New York State Court of Appeals. If the lower court’s ruling stands, it’s bound to have a chilling effect on religious charities aid to the public.

After Catholic Charities of Sacramento lost its challenge to a similar California law, church officials began considering whether its social services activities should be brought back within the diocese to strengthen its connection with the church. Other religious groups, such as Agudath Israel, fear that regulation of faith-based social service organizations will become more intrusive. If there was one lesson of the recent presidential election, it’s that Americans don’t expect “public actors” to surrender their faiths.

All this is taking place in the context of a drive by liberal factions across the nation to marginalize religious institutions. This lies behind much of the so-called values debate that just delivered the big improvement in President Bush’s popular vote standing. “We must welcome faith based programs that have got the capacity to change lives by changing hearts into the very fabric of our society,” president has said. “This country must not fear the influence of faith in the future of this country. We must welcome faith in order to make America a better place.” That’s going to take a bit more tolerance for religion on the part of the state government – the same sort of tolerance religious groups have found for each other.