Freedom of -- and from -- religion is perhaps the most precious liberty for citizens of the United States. It is one of our singular contributions to the world, the notion that each human is free to practice his faith without impediment yet also without being able to force those beliefs on another. That is why a recent decision by the Obama administration concerning health plans has many in the faith community furious.

At issue is what form health-insurance plans must take when offered by religious organizations to their employees. Not churches, mind you. These rules would affect the more diverse hospitals, social-service agencies or universities that the Catholic Church, for example, operates. The new rules, issued earlier this year by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, would require all employee health plans to include contraceptive services. That, of course, contradicts Catholic teaching, as well as beliefs of some fundamentalist Christians and Orthodox Jews. By requiring health insurance that offers prescriptions to include birth control, opponents of this decision believe they will have to go against their conscience. The changes are part of the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature health care law.

With so many swing states in the 2012 presidential election up for grabs -- and home to millions of Catholics -- this decision is seen as potentially damaging to Democratic hopes for an Obama second term. Already, Catholic bishops have instructed priests to read letters to parishioners denouncing this decision. Church leaders are pushing back hard against the new rules, an opposition that will only grow stronger as campaign season heats up. The only concession the Obama administration gave to religious sensibilities was to provide an additional year for those employers to adapt to the new rules.

For the administration, the issue was about a different kind of liberty. Should an employee who does not share the faith of her employer be penalized by not having equal access to health coverage? The emphasis in health-insurance plans is on preventive services, including contraception for families who want to plan the births of their children rather than leaving pregnancy to chance. Birth-control pills would be provided without copays, a significant savings, up to $600 a year for some women. What's more, 28 states already require contraceptives to be included in health plans that cover prescription drugs; some states have the same exemption Obama is proposing, while others have no exemption at all. Some Catholic-run institutions, including Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, already include birth control in their health coverage. Drugs that induce abortion, such as RU486, are not covered under the policy, administration officials say.

In a country of diverse views, accommodation must be made for religious liberty while at the same time protecting those with other beliefs. Perhaps one way out of this conflict would be to look at what Hawaii does. Religious employers keep their exemption, but outline alternative ways for those enrolled in their health care plans to find coverage. Such a compromise would preserve the availability of contraceptives with no copays while keeping intact a conscience exemption for religious groups. It is a tightrope, to be sure. This week, though, the administration signaled that further compromise might be possible.

Complicating the entire debate is this reality: Many rank-and-file Catholics most likely will not be offended by the birth-control requirement for health plans. Survey after survey shows that Catholics, just like most Americans, use birth control to manage when they have babies. A 2011 study by the Guttmacher Institute claimed that 98 percent of sexually active American Catholic women say that they have used some form of birth control. Other women, of course, need contraceptives for medical reasons -- dealing with endometriosis, for example, or anemia.

The decision by so many Catholic faithful to use birth control is beside the point to the leaders of the American Catholic Church. They will continue to fight the rule -- by raising public ire, if possible, and through legislative solutions in Congress. The real challenge for the Catholic Church, though, isn't making a case to the Obama administration. It's persuading the Catholic faithful the church's policy on contraceptives has merit and relevancy today.